I'm Dreaming of a Wright Christmas
by Melody Canta
Summary: Oneshots written from prompts in the Tumblr community, one for each of the 25 days of Christmas. Will feature characters from the Seven Year War series, but can be read as standalone fics. Multiple pairings, several different characters featured, and a lot of humor, family, and romance. COMPLETE.
1. Mistletoe

I'm Dreaming of a Wright Christmas

Kiria, Yoshiya, and Mariko Nomura, Nathaniel Price, Nadeshiko Suzuki, and any other character that is not part of Capcom's original series is of my own creation. Alternatively, any character from Capcom's original series is NOT mine, and while I wish I did, I don't make any money from the series.**  
**

Based off of the 25 Days of Fic prompt on Tumblr.

Rated K+.

Note: This is standalone to the Seven Year War series; characters from it will be used, but their functions will be clear enough for anyone to see (it will be clearer if you read the other fictions, but, hey, what can I say?). For those reading the Seven Year War series, popular demands that I receive may be incorporated into the prompts. This does not make them canon in the series. Timelines may be altered, again, this does not make them canon.

* * *

**Prompt #1 :: Mistletoe**

It had _not_ been Phoenix Wright's idea to hang mistletoe in the office. He had been okay with the other decorations. Just not the mistletoe.

In fact, he was pretty sure he hated the stuff. Ever since Larry had hung it in the student government room in high school and Phoenix had been forced to kiss the ugliest girl in the senior class, he had avoided it whenever possible. But now it was in the office, hanging just above the door to Kiria's personal office.

Actually, he was pretty sure it was one of Pearl's schemes to get him and Maya to show more affection toward one another. She had frequently voiced her disapproval, insisting, "special someones need to show lots of love to one another!" He, for one, didn't feel that they needed to show any more love to _anyone, _and was all for taking it down. Maya, however, disagreed.

"You can't just take it down, Nick! Do you know how long it took Pearly to get that up there?" she scolded.

And since he couldn't take Pearls being mad at him, let alone Maya, it was still up in the office. He sighed. One of these days, he would put his foot down and stop them from walking all over him.

That day, however, was not today.

It had, however, caused a few awkward moments with his former assistant and current lawyer of the office. He would be standing in the doorway one minute, and she would brush by him to get something from the front room. This would prompt both of them to look upwards to see the leaves and tiny white berries above them, and Kiria would grumble under her breath about never hearing about this tradition to kiss under the mistletoe in Japan, and one of them would give the other a shy peck on the cheek or forehead, and they would pretend it had never happened.

"Can't we put it up somewhere else?" Kiria complained one day.

"There's nowhere else to put it up!" Pearl protested.

"Nuh uh!" Trucy argued. "There's the front door!"

"That sounds like an even worse idea," Phoenix said under his breath.

"Hey, if it gets away from my office door, I'm all for it," Kiria said.

Two hours and one more conversation about it later, and the mistletoe was hanging above the front door of the office. "We'll test it out tomorrow. If it needs moved, it needs moved and we'll find another place for it," Maya compromised, almost giggling when everyone lined up single-file to go through the door one at a time. And no matter how much Trucy and Pearl pushed, Maya and Phoenix went through the door separately as well.

* * *

The next morning caused no debacles. Kiria had a trial that morning and wouldn't be in until after lunch. There were no clients, and Phoenix took them all out to lunch after learning that Kiria and Edgeworth would be going to lunch together. When they came back, he had been caught crossing the threshold with Maya. Pearl's grin couldn't have been wider. "This was a great idea!" she whispered to Trucy as they watched the adults kiss.

"I know, right?!"

"Kiria in her office?" Phoenix asked when they parted.

Trucy ran to check. "Nope!"

"Must still be at lunch. I'll leave a note on her desk."

* * *

"I don't get it!"

"Oh, come on, Edgeworth! I think Oldbag is getting more attached to you every case!"

Edgeworth groaned. "Can't we arrest _her_ on something?"

"Stalking, maybe. You'd have to catch her in the act though; she's pretty stealthy about it, it seems." Kiria giggled, opening the door to the Wright Talent Agency. "That file is in my office; I'll go get—"

She was cut off by an enthusiastic gasp by Trucy.

"You all certainly decorated," Edgeworth said, looking around the office from the doorway. "The Christmas tree is a nice touch. Anyways, that case file . . . ?" He stopped when he saw Kiria looking up. "Is that—?"

"Mistletoe? Yes." Kiria was silently cursing herself, eyes shut as she remembered her exact words from the day before. _"Hey, if it gets away from my office door, I'm all for it!"_

"Kiria! There you—oh." Phoenix paused, his eyes on Edgeworth. Oh, this could be interesting. This could be _very_ interesting. He leaned up against the couch, smirk on his face. No one could ever pay him _any_ amount of money to miss this.

Edgeworth cleared his throat, face decidedly pink. "Ah, erm, mistletoe. A nice touch."

"I suppose." Kiria seemed to have gathered her thoughts by this point, because she had turned, face set. "We could just forget this happened. It's been a joke around the office, but—" This time, she was interrupted by his lips pressing against hers softly. It was quick and chaste, but it still stunned her into silence.

"It's important to observe every tradition," was all he said. Kiria made a quick exit into her office while Phoenix continued to lean against the back of the couch, smirking widely.

"Important to observe every tradition, eh, Edgeworth?" he asked. "Never knew you were so into the holidays." He only smiled wider when Edgeworth had no answer to that. Perhaps the mistletoe had had another purpose after all.

* * *

**A/N: Barely made the word limit there!**

**Anyways, this is going to be a collection of one-shots that are all surrounding the holidays, obviously, based off of prompts given by the lovely users of Tumblr. They'll feature different pairings, characters, et cetera. Really, it'll be anything that comes to mind. It's an exercise in fluff, which I have never written very well. **

**This one was really inspired by the fact that the biggest request I get in the Seven Year War series is Kiria/Edgeworth romance, so I decided to give a little bit here. Not sure we'll have many more of this pairing (it all depends on the prompts), but, hey, here was a piece. **

**Read and Review?**


	2. Hot Chocolate

**Prompt #2 :: Hot** **Chocolate**

Phoenix watched his adopted daughter sob on the bed. He'd had a feeling that this would happen when she had wished for her father—her biological father—to come home. He tried not to take it personally. After all, it was only normal that she would yearn for her family during this time. Still, if he could have brought Zak Gramarye home and sat him under their little Christmas tree, he would have.

He set the tray he had been holding on the nightstand, placing his hand on her back soothingly. It spasmed as her breath hitched and she looked up at him, her eyes red rimmed, tears and snot running down her face. "D—Daddy?"

"What are you still doing up?" he asked. "Santa isn't going to come tomorrow if you don't get to sleep soon."

She shook her head, wiping her tears with one hand. "Santa isn't gonna bring me what I want, though."

"You don't know that. Santa's sleigh is big enough for your dad to ride alongside Santa. Maybe he'll even come with the bunny you wished for."

That seemed to quiet her down a bit. He helped her wipe her face with a tissue before seating himself on the bed with her. "You know what my mother used to do on Christmas Eve?"

"What?"

"Well, we would open presents like we did earlier, and then my mom would pour us all a giant mug of hot cocoa and put marshmallows and chocolate sprinkles on top. A lot like . . . this one." He picked up one of the mugs from the tray, handing it to her. Her face lit up as she saw the chocolate sprinkles on top.

"Just like your mommy used to make?"

"Just like my mom used to make. And then she would usher us to bed, reminding us that Santa wouldn't come if we weren't asleep."

"That's not true! I saw Santa last year!" she protested.

"Did you? Well, you must have tricked him then! But Santa's very careful after you trick him once; you can't trick him the same way again!"

Trucy looked around. "Is it too late to go to sleep? Did I miss Santa?" Her eyes filled with tears again, but he shook his head, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"Nope. There's still enough time for you to drink your cocoa and go to sleep."

She practically acted like a vacuum, inhaling all of the hot cocoa in the cup and handing it back to him. "Time for me to go to sleep!" she said, sounding very firm on this.

He laughed, standing and tucking her in. When she was all ready for bed, he picked the tray up and started walking out of the room.

"Daddy? I love you."

He turned back in the doorway, looking at the picture she made, all cocooned in her blankets and staring at him like he was the best parent ever. "I love you too, Truce."

* * *

The next morning, when she raced out to the Christmas tree, there was no Zak Gramarye. Instead, there was a note in its place.

_Trucy,_

_Santa had so many presents in his sleigh that I couldn't fit. But I want you to know that I love you and I'm always with you._

_Hugs and Kisses,_

_Daddy xoxoxoxo_

* * *

**A/N: SO MUCH FLUFF! This one is a shorter one; originally it was Phoenix/Trucy and Maya/Pearl/Iris, but I ran out of words, so I just put in the Phoenix/Trucy one. Honestly, I love these two so much, it's not even funny. Writing them is always a pleasure.**

**Reviews ::**

**OddWriter12: I'm glad you liked it! Again, it's one of the biggest pairings I get requests for, so I figured, why not? D**


	3. Snow

**Prompt #3 :: Snow**

Prompt: Snow  
Words: 621  
Summary: A young Franziska is delighted when it snows the week of Christmas and decides that the only companion to go with her is her brother.

* * *

"Miles! Miles, it's snowing!" A young Franziska pulled on the arm of her brother. He groaned, throwing the blanket over his head and going back to sleep. She grabbed her riding crop, smacking him with the end. "Get up!"

He yowled, bolting up and holding his arm. "What?!"

"It's snowing!"

"It snows almost every year! Go back to bed."

"But it never snows near Christmas!" She pouted. Every year that she could remember, it had been dry during the week of Christmas. But it was the 23rd and there was snow falling to the ground! "Come on! Come outside with me!"

"Franziska . . ." Miles grumbled, laying back down and turning away from her.

She hit him again with the crop. He grunted, turned, and tried to grab the weapon from her, but she jerked back just in time. "Too slow! Now, come on! Or I'll hit you again!"

"Can't your father take you out?"

Her face grew solemn. "You think I could ask Father to take me out in the snow?" It was a ridiculous idea, to say the least. Manfred von Karma would have never allowed something so foolish, despite the fact this his daughter was a mere six years of age.

"What about Ibiza?" he asked, referring to Franziska's nanny.

She made a face. "Ibiza never lets me do anything fun. Pleaaaaase, Miles?"

It was the begging that did him in. Franziska von Karma so rarely begged that he realized this was truly important to her for some reason. "Fine." He rolled out of bed. "Go get dressed for snow."

She scoffed. "You think I'm not ready now?" He appraised her tiny form, wrapped in scarves and a hat.

"Put on a jacket at least."

She raced out of the room and he groaned, looking outside at the white world.

* * *

They had just finished a snowball fight and Franziska was making a snow angel. "What's so special today?"

"It's snowing," she said.

"Obviously. But what was so important that you had to wake me up at three in the morning so we could go out in the snow?"

Franziska paused before sitting up. "My sister said that it always is snowing in Munich during Christmas. But it never snows here in Frankfurt."

"Your sister?"

"My older sister. She lives with our mother."

He furrowed his brow. "How long has it been since you saw her?"

"Three years. Ibiza used to read me her letters when I was younger and couldn't read, but now I can read them all by myself."

There was a small silence as she spread her arms and legs wide to give her angel wider wings and skirt and he thought about what she had said. He had never met Franziska's sister, nor her mother. To discuss either of them was tantamount to discussing getting a tooth pulled; it was not recommended. To top it all off, Franziska was often alone or with Ibiza. "Hey, Franziska?"

"Uh huh?" She sat up again.

"Do you want to go see her?"

"See who?"

"Your sister."

Franziska's face lit up. "Can we?"

"Not this year. But some year, I promise, I'll take you to go see her. And you can spend Christmas with her in Munich."

She smiled. "Okay! But you'd better not forget!" she said sternly.

* * *

Fourteen years later, Miles Edgeworth knocked on the last door of the High Prosecutor office doors. "Come in!" Franziska turned and made a face when she realized it was her adoptive brother. "What is it?"

"What are your plans for Christmas?"

"I have no plans. Why?"

He held up two plane tickets. "Because I didn't forget."

* * *

**A/N: Day 3 and I'm still going strong! I wanted to do something with young!Miles and young!Franziska, just because I don't think they get enough love in the Gyakuten Kenji/AAI series. **

**Reviews!**

**OddWriter12 :: Thank you for brightening up my day with your review! I have never had a review telling me not to do drugs, but I'll keep that in mind! c:**

**Read and Review!**


	4. Candy Canes

**Prompt #4 :: Candy Canes****  
**

Prompt: Candy Canes  
Words: 848  
Summary: Diego Armando spends Christmas alone until he gets a visitor who reawakens a bit of holiday spirit within him.

Diego Armando stared out of the bars of his jail cell. His first Christmas in the slammer. He hadn't expected it to be all sunshine and roses, but he hadn't expected that it would just be ignored either. It might as well have been any other day.

Well, not quite any other day. People had been called out all day for visitors. He hadn't, of course, but then again, who did he have to call on him? Mia and Misty were dead, Iris was in jail, and Grossberg had basically shunned him (not that Diego blamed him for it; a lawyer couldn't exactly associate with prisoners). He figured that this was about as good as this day was going to get.

When had this all gone so wrong? One day, he had been with Mia, the next with the devil herself. And then the next several years were lost to him. He had lost his life, his reason for living, and the woman who had caused it all in one fell swoop. He was no longer Diego Armando, not really. He was Godot.

And he'd left Mia waiting all that time. Perhaps that was the worst part; she had waited and had died because she was still waiting for him. Had he been conscious, he would have protected her to the death. But he had been disabled by a poison and she had been killed.

She had been literally _Waiting for Godot_.

He pressed his face into his pillow. He just wanted Christmas to be over. He had thought the same thing last Christmas too, but without anyone to celebrate with, it seemed like an empty holiday.

One of the guards knocked on the cell bars. "Armando."

"Hm?"

"Get up. You have a visitor."

He furrowed his brow. "A visitor?"

"That's what I said. Now, hurry up. Visitation hours are almost up."

* * *

"Mia."

"Merry Christmas, Diego." Her smile wasn't quite the same, not without the dimple, not without the beauty mark, but it was better than anything else he'd seen since he'd been admitted. "How are you?"

"Aw, you know. The same as always." The grin on his face seemed to be permanently plastered on, wider than normal. "What're the chances of a kitten like you being free on Christmas? I should be flattered."

"Be flattered all you want. I wouldn't want to spend it with anyone else. Well, no, I take that back." His face fell. "I'd want my sister to be there with us. It's unfortunate that Maya was so adamant that Pearl not be disturbed."

"Ah, the little kitten. Thank her for me, would you? You're a sight for sore eyes, Mia. Quite a sight." She was, with her Santa hat and the red sweater that actually fit rather than being stretched too tightly over her bust. "Get some new clothes?"

"No, just ones locked away in a drawer."

He grinned wider. "Does that mean you dressed up just for me, kitten?"

"I figured you could use a pick-me-up. I tried to get a cup of coffee, but they wouldn't let it in. Sorry."

He shook his head. "You are present enough."

"I did bring something for you, though!" She slid a green and white candy cane across the table, her fingers prying his apart and placing the candy in them. "It's not quite the same, but I did make sure it was a green one, not a red one. A little bit of Christmas spirit." She winked at him.

"A little bit of Christmas spirit, huh? This wouldn't be referencing the Christmas party at Grossberg's would it?"

His grin grew again as she flushed. "Well, it wasn't meant to be, but I suppose it could be seen that way. I didn't think you'd remember that."

"How could I forget the first time I kissed you?"

"We were more than drunk. We never talked about it again."

"Doesn't mean I didn't remember it. In fact, I remember that you tasted like peppermint that night."

She chuckled. "From those mints Grossberg kept trying to get us to eat! Oh god, I remember that!" She laughed. "And then there was that peppermint hot chocolate that Danica brought in."

"It was the prevalent flavor that night, that's for sure."

The guard in the corner cleared his throat. "Visitation hours are over."

All of Diego's cheer deflated. "Already?" he asked.

"It may be Christmas today, but that doesn't make it the only day I'll ever visit. Maybe you'll get to meet Maya for real next time."

He nodded. "I'd like that."

Mia rose, leaning over, and kissed him on the cheek. "Merry Christmas, Diego."

He watched her leave, knowing that the visit had been the best Christmas present he had ever received.

Later that night, he unwrapped the candy cane and let all of the memories flood through him. "Merry Christmas, Mia," he murmured.

* * *

**A/N: I know I'm a Nick/Maya shipper, but my favorite pairing in the entire series was always Diego/Mia. It's so tragic!**

**Sorry for the delay on this one; big final today, so I spent last night studying (and seeing Rise of the Guardians...I mean, what?).**

**Reviews ::**

**Blaze :: I'm glad you liked young!Franziska and young!Miles! I wish we saw more of them canon so that they were easier to write, haha. **

**FeytedintheTARDIS :: I'm glad you like them! This one really isn't as cute; it's more angsty, in my opinion, but, hey, I'm a tragic writer. What can I say? Haha, if you were wondering what I did in the Kiria/Edgeworth pairing with the mistletoe, that was classic literary misdirection. GREAT tool, especially for little oneshots like this.**

**Feyfangirl :: I'm so glad! They're meant to be cheery (and practice for me to write fluff, since that's not exactly my strong suit)!**

**OddWriter12 :: Sleep is always good! Yeaaaaah, I may have taken a few liberties with Franziska there. I'd like to think she had a softer childhood and Manfred von Karma struck the fear of God in her (classic tragedy; happy childhood to a closed adult). **

**Read and Review!**


	5. Christmas Tree

**Prompt #5 :: Christmas Tree**

Prompt: Christmas Trees  
Words: 800  
Summary: The Christmas tradition of lighting the candles on the tree in Kurain has finally started, and Pearl tries to do her part.

Pearl stared up at the tall tree, eyes wide in wonder. It was decorated with candles, one for each of the mediums of the Kurain Channeling Technique. Each of the sticks was etched with the names of the mediums in an ornate font, one side with the English orthography and the other with the Japanese. Hers was near the bottom, as she was a medium-in-training. It was actually the perfect height for her to see.

Mystic Maya's was higher up, much higher than she remembered it being last year. It was the first one lit each year and the last one to be extinguished Christmas night.

"Can I help light the candles?" she asked.

Mystic Althea, one of the youngest Elders, looked down on her kindly. "Of course. You need to be careful with this though; if you miss, you could light the tree on fire!" Pearl gulped, taking the lighter from her with a little bit of trepidation. Althea knelt to her level, putting her arms around the tiny girl and holding Pearl's hand in one of her own. "Now, just push this down like this, and, it sparks!" She demonstrated it, and then backed up so Pearl could try.

Pearl fumbled with it a little before pressing the little lever. The lighter clicked and then a small flame erupted from the top. Her face lit up. "I did it!"

"Indeed! Now move over to a candle and hold the flame over the wick."

Pearl moved forward, approaching the tree before lighting the tallest candle she could reach. "Aurora," it said on it. She did Temperance and Elise next, followed by Ariel, Martha, and Eve. Finally, her own candle was up. Althea took the lighter from her. "A mystic never lights her own candle. As mystics, our power comes from one another. Someone else is always there to lift you up, just as someone else is always there to light your candle." She lit Pearl's candle before handing the lighter back to her.

"Does that mean that I'm lifting all of them up? Mystic Aurora and Mystic Elise and Mystic Ariel and Mystic Martha and Mystic Eve?"

"Well, aren't you always?"

Pearl thought for a moment. "I don't know."

"You're helping them with their channeling, aren't you? I would say that's lifting them up."

Pearl bit the soft skin of her lip. "But they're not very good at it yet."

"But they will be in time. And when they are successful, they'll remember that you helped them. You helped lift them up in their time of need, and when you become an Elder, like me, they'll be there to help you in yours."

"But what about Mystic Maya?"

Althea's eyebrows rose. "What about her?"

"She's with Mr. Nick all the time! Who's going to help her when she needs it most?"

"Mystic Maya has helped others out already. These debts do not go away, nor do they expire. As Feys, we are dedicated to helping our own, even if they are not directly assisting us. But, if I remember correctly, Mystic Maya helped us figure out what happened to Mystic Misty, did she not?"

Pearl's eyes filled with tears. "Mystic Misty didn't have a candle!" she wailed. "So no one could help her when she needed it!"

Althea sighed and put her arms around the girl. "Unfortunately, we can't be everywhere. We can't always help people, especially when they don't want to be helped. It's a fact of life, my dear, and while it isn't a happy one, it is one worth remembering. After all, if you're always crying about the fallen, how can you help the ones that are still living?"

Pearl stared at her, eyes still wide, but a small glimmer of hope was in them. "You're so wise, Mystic Althea."

Althea smiled at the young girl. "On the contrary, I am nowhere near as wise as I wish I could be. You, who are so young, have only seen a few candles come and go. But me, in my forty years of life, I have seen candles come and go, more than I would like to have seen. I remember when Mystic Misty's candle was no longer the highest one. But order has been restored. Perhaps Misty, rest her soul, is not at the top of the tree, but her daughter is now. And life goes on as it should."

"'Life goes on as it should,'" Pearl repeated and lit the final few candles. When they stepped back, they could see the tree in all its shining glory, each of the mystics' candles blazing brightly.

* * *

**A/N: This is probably my least favorite one so far. Althea, in case anyone was wondering, is a character I created just for the sake of this oneshot. **

**Oh, and as someone on Tumblr asked me earlier, I do take requests! If you have a pairing or a character you'd like to see more of, just include it in your review!**

**As an aside, the Candy Cane fic is rolling around Tumblr, so if you see it, don't think someone's trying to rip me off or something.**

**Reviews ::**

**FeytedintheTARDIS :: This one might be competing for angstiest oneshot with the last one, although this one isn't quite angst and more . . . well, I'm not sure what to call it. But I'm glad you liked the last one!**

**OddWriter12 :: Ah, the great thing about fanfiction! I'm not getting paid, so I can do whatever I want, haha! I love Diego/Mia. I really don't think the ship gets enough love, most likely because it _is_ canon. Do you happen to have any fics you particularly like with the two of them? I haven't been able to find any!**

**Read and Review!**


	6. Angel

**Prompt #6 :: Angel**

Prompt: Angel  
Words: 715  
Summary: Kiria Nomura learns about angels as a child in Japan.

"Why are no angels dark-haired?" a young Kiria Nomura asked, her legs folded beneath her as she looked at the book full of scriptures and illustrations.

"None are dark-haired? No way," Nadeshiko said. She leaned forward, dark brown hair brushing the pages. "I wonder why not?"

Kiria shook her head. "Not a clue."

"And none of them have their hair up either!" Nadeshiko pointed out, taking the book from her best friend and beginning to flip through it. "This is strange."

"What's strange?" Yoshiya asked, coming into the room. "Are you looking at that book Dad brought back from England again?" He peered over Nadeshiko, his lanky sixteen-year-old body looming over her eleven-year-old one.

The book had been a gift from Takao Nomura to his youngest daughter when he had taken a trip to England. It detailed all about Christian traditions, including Easter, Epiphany, Pentecost, and, as they were currently learning, Christmas. Having lived in Japan their entire lives, a country that doesn't celebrate many Christian traditions, the book was a source of knowledge for all of them in the room.

"There are no dark-haired angels!" Kiria pointed out.

Yoshiya seated himself at the table as well, taking the text from Nadeshiko and flipping through it quickly. "They all have blonde or light brown hair, don't they?"

"Well, they are English. Perhaps that's all of the hair colors they have in England."

Kiria pouted. "I don't think so. I mean, you'd think they'd have more!"

"We don't, here in Japan," Nadeshiko said.

"I guess."

"Of course they've got more hair colors in England! They're much more varied than we are," Yoshiya said knowledgeably. "They have more hair colors because of how close all of the countries in Europe are."

Takao entered from the kitchen, looking down on his children and his daughter's best friend with pride. "Do you like that book?" he asked.

"_Otou-san_, why do none of the angels have dark hair?" Kiria asked.

Takao thought it over before placing a kiss on the top of his daughter's head. "Because all of the dark-haired angels are here, still on Earth."

"Here?" she asked, eyes wide in wonder.

"In fact, I believe I see three in this room."

The fact that Kiria and Nadeshiko both looked around the room before pointing to themselves made Takao chuckle. But he nodded, patient smile on his face. "All three of you. And your _onee-san_, and your _okaa-san_; all of you are angels. And Nade_-chan_'s family too. There are all of these angels on Earth still that haven't had a chance to get in that book."

"Oh," they all said, understanding etched on their faces. "Will you help us read the book later?" Yoshiya asked.

"Of course. But it's getting late, and I believe you all have homework to do." He tried to look stern, but knew he failed when the three of them grinned widely. "Homework first, especially you," he said, staring at Yoshiya reproachfully. "Aren't your entrance exams starting soon?"

Yoshiya made a face, but scampered quickly into the other room. Nadeshiko rose, gave her best friend a hug, and bade them all a good night. Takao turned his attention to his daughter. "Time for homework," he reminded her.

She stood before rocking up on her tiptoes and kissing her father's cheek gently. "_Otou-san_, you were wrong earlier. There weren't three angels in the room; there were four."

"Four?"

"If _onee-san_ and _onii-san_ and _okaa-san_ are all angels, then obviously my _otou-san_ must be too."

"Go do your homework," he said, choking through the lump that had suddenly formed in his throat because of his daughter's words. She scampered off into her bedroom and he meandered back into the kitchen where his wife was waiting. "There. They're doing their homework now."

Hanako chuckled. "Oh no, you actually had to be the strict parent for once," she teased. "What were they doing in there?"

He kissed her gently. "Talking about angels. Kiria was just reminding me that I am surrounded by all the angels I will ever need."

* * *

**A/N: So, obviously, I'm 2 days behind now. I was planning on catching up today, and then didn't. This one actually took more time than I thought it would, but it was an installment that with Japanese characters, I needed to have. Christmas is slowly gaining favor in Japan, but it is largely a consumer holiday and is still not celebrated in a large population of the country. **

**The observation that most angels tend to be light-haired is actually a revelation I had today while Christmas shopping. As someone who is dark-haired myself, I always wanted to see a dark-haired angel. **

**Japanese used: All familial terms. Otou-san = father, Okaa-san = mother, Onee-san = older sister, Onii-san = older brother.  
As an aside, Nade-chan is Nadeshiko, for those of you who aren't familiar with intimate nicknames.**

**For those of you who are Seven Year War readers, this Nadeshiko is the same as the one Yoshiya talks about in First Strike.**

**Reviews!**

**FeytedintheTARDIS :: Totally agree with that. It was more seriousness than anything. Hopefully this one made up for the last one!**

**Read and Review!**


	7. Pie

**Prompt #7 :: Pie**

Prompt: Pie  
Words: 982  
Summary: When Miles Edgeworth is stuck out of town on Christmas Eve due to snowfall, one of his Christmas traditions isn't quite the same. It takes Kiria Nomura to fix that for him.

Miles Edgeworth looked down at his plate, seeing the single piece of apple pie topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It wasn't the worst Christmas meal that he'd ever had, but it certainly wasn't the best either. The turkey breast he'd eaten earlier had been dry, and the mashed potatoes not much better. His hopes for the pie was simply that it would be edible. Sitting across from him, pushing around a cup of coffee and a bowl of chocolate ice cream, Kiria Nomura certainly looked like she wished for the same.

"How is it?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Not bad. I'm pretty sure it was scooped from a cardboard carton, but at least it's better than the rest of the food."

He took a bite of his pie. It tasted like canned pie filling and cardboard. For what was the third time that day, he wished their case had been in town rather than on the edge of basin. For what was the first time in the whole time he had ever lived in Los Angeles, there had been a freak snowstorm. Two inches of snow had fallen. Neither he nor Kiria had been fazed by it, having lived in Germany and Japan, but in southern California, the repercussions had been almost immediate. All of the roads had closed, making their return to the city impossible. They would be stuck there until the next morning. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" she asked, taking a sip of her coffee.

"I asked you to look into this case, and now we're both missing Christmas with our families and friends because of it."

She shook her head. "Don't feel bad about it. You had an idea that the defendant was innocent, but no one would take his case. I'm glad that I got him a Not Guilty verdict. Besides, Christmas wasn't something I grew up celebrating. It's really not as bad as you think."

He nodded, but it didn't lessen the guilt.

"Tell me about your Christmas," she said, putting aside the bowl of half-eaten ice cream.

"What do you mean?"

"How were you going to celebrate it?"

Miles tilted his head back, recalling his plans. "The same way I do every year. I visit my father's grave, and then go back to my house for a piece of apple pie."

Kiria stared at him for a long moment and then finally asked, "Apple pie?"

He chuckled, taking a sip of the cup of tea he had been served with dinner and hadn't finished. "When I was young, my father and I would go to a diner just outside of town and eat a slice of apple pie. It was the best apple pie he said he had ever had, and he was always so excited to go. We would get a piece on special occasions. My first day of kindergarten, every birthday he and I had, and Christmas Eve, every year. It's a foolish tradition, but once I was living in California again . . . I couldn't _not_ do it. It would have seemed wrong."

"Wow. I was wondering why you declined to celebrate the holiday with the rest of us, but I think I get it now." She looked at the plate in front of him. "How does this one measure up?"

He wrinkled his nose. "Not anywhere close."

"Well, maybe with some company, we can make it better." She waved the waitress over and ordered a piece of apple pie a la mode.

"You don't have to do that. It's really not great," he said.

The waitress put the pie in front of her, and Kiria shook her head. "If I can't get you there, it seems only fair that I should do this too! We can eat mediocre apple pie and ice cream together and laugh about old times." She took a bite and fought to keep her reaction off her face. "You weren't kidding about this pie."

He chuckled. "It's definitely not the best pie I've had, but I'm fairly sure it's the only place still open this late on Christmas Eve."

She took another bite. "Tell me more about your father."

He had thought it would have been harder, but as he started talking, the words started flowing easier until he was telling her stories of his childhood like they were discussing the weather. She was an intent listener, laughing and asking questions in all of the right places. They only paused conversation to take bites of the pie and make faces at one another at the taste.

"We're about to close," the waitress informed them as she took the empty coffee and tea cup from their table.

Kiria and Miles looked down at their plates. One bite left. Looking back up at one another, they speared the bite of crust, placed it in their mouths, chewed, and swallowed, all in unison. When the waitress came back, they were laughing so hard tears were bubbling up in Kiria's eyes and Miles was holding his stomach. She looked at them, took their plates, and left the bill.

When they had composed themselves, they paid the bill and walked out to his car. "Thank you," he said quietly.

"For what?"

"For making this Christmas better."

She smiled and shook her head. "Miles Edgeworth, when will you learn? It wasn't me that did anything; I merely took part in a tradition that wasn't mine. Your father deserves all of the credit for starting it."

"But you didn't have to and you did. I just wanted you to know that it meant a lot."

She ducked her head as she got into the car. "Any time, Edgeworth. Any time."

* * *

**A/N: Believe it or not, this was actually one of my favorite pieces to write. It has Edgeworth as a lot softer than he's generally written, but I think it's still in the bounds of in character. I hope.**

**For those of you who aren't familiar with southern California, it RARELY snows there, and when it does, everything shuts down. **

**Reviews!**

**Blaze :: I really like writing Kiria pieces at the moment, just because she's absent from the main fanfic. So the last piece was fun to write, and I'm glad it was cool to read. I'll try to update as often as possible.**

**FeytedintheTARDIS :: Haha, I could have went a much different way with the prompt, but I didn't want it to be too stereotypical, so I chose to subvert the expectations a little. **

**Read and Review!**


	8. Tinsel

**Prompt #8 :: Tinsel**

Prompt: Tinsel  
Words: 359  
Summary: Pearl makes tinsel crowns for the party, and Franziska is not happy to wear one.

Pearl handed each of the guests a crown and then made sure to give them the evil eye until they put it on their heads. She and Trucy had spent the last two days making each of them out of tinsel, first winding them around wire before shaping the crown. Sure, they weren't beautiful (after all, neither of them were great at arts and crafts), but atop everyone's heads, the party was much more festive. "It's like a bunch of Christmas trees!" Trucy giggled, wearing her own crown.

Pearl nodded, her face lit up as she looked around the room. There were former clients and friends alike here, mingling like they were all old friends. Kiria nursed a drink as she talked with Nathan, Ralph Shiller, and Ron DeLite. Phoenix, Maya, and Edgeworth stood in the corner, chatting with Will Powers and Adrian Andrews. Franziska was just walking in the door. Pearl rushed over to her, handing her a tinsel crown. "Merry Christmas, Miss von Karma!" she chirped happily.

Franziska looked at all the others in the room, eyes narrowed when she saw they were all wearing the crowns as well. "I think not."

Trucy, sensing a battle to be won, skipped over to Pearl's side. "Franzy, you have to wear it!" Trucy insisted. "Everyone's wearing one!"

Franziska shook her head. "I think I'll pass."

Nathan turned, seeing Franziska just as she tried to walk away. "Aw, come on now, von Karma! We all look spectacular in them." He winked, twirling around to show his blue tinsel crown off.

"Nathaniel Price," she growled in warning.

"Come on, Franziska! It's just for a few hours," Phoenix called.

With everyone's eyes on her, Franziska growled again before taking the crown and setting it atop her head. "There you go!" Nathan shouted before walking over to her and engulfing her in a hug.

With the way she froze, it was predictable when he let go that she whipped him into oblivion. "And no more comments about the crown!" she called out, stomping over to the alcohol to pour herself a drink.

* * *

**A/N: I apologize for this chapter. To tell the truth, I'm not really sure what tinsel is (I had to do a Google search and listen to my roommate talk about it in very confusing terms), so this chapter was murder to write. It isn't going up on Tumblr, if anyone had any questions.**

**Reviews ::**

**Blaze :: You liked him? I like writing him that way, and the way he is in AAI, it might be close to canon, but he might be a little too soft for what I would consider safe. Haha, there's a reason Nathan was ignored until now. He gets plenty of attention at the moment!**

**Read and Review?**


	9. Ice Skating

**Prompt #9 :: Ice Skating**

Prompt: Ice Skating  
Words: 989  
Summary: A bit of friendly competition gets a little out of hand as the gang goes ice skating.

Kiria soared across the ice, the blades cutting into the slick surface. "It's like she's flying!" Trucy said, watching as the lawyer spun gracefully in the rink before straightening and traveling again.

"Wow," Phoenix said. His eyes were glued to her graceful figure. "Are we expected to keep up with that?"

Nathan shook his head. "I think she's got a few years on us. Coming, Edgeworth?"

Edgeworth finished the final lace on his skates before clomping over to Nathan. "Ready. Shall we?"

"Why aren't the others here again?" Phoenix asked, standing unsteadily.

"They'll be here later. Now stop complaining and get out here!" Nathan took his first step onto the ice, almost falling as the ground seemed to slip out from under him. He grabbed onto the railing, keeping himself up and waiting for the others.

Phoenix held Trucy's hand as they stepped into the rink. Kiria skated up, taking Trucy's other hand as Phoenix clung to the railing. "Finally," she teased, supporting the younger girl. "I thought you guys were going to sit up there forever!"

"Not our fault that you were so excited you left us behind," Nathan grumbled as Edgeworth stepped onto the ice, seemingly undisturbed by the change in the ground. "Why aren't you slipping around like the rest of us?" he asked, his eyebrows knit together.

Edgeworth shrugged. "I may have done this a time or two as a child."

"A time or two?" Kiria's eyes sparkled as she handed Trucy back to her adoptive father. "Want to race?"

"Race?"

"First one done with five laps around the rink wins?"

Edgeworth shook his head. "I will hardly do something so childish."

Kiria shrugged, beginning another lap. "Up to you."

"Geez, Edgeworth. Chicken?" Nathan asked.

"No! I'm merely noting there are other children in this ice rink, and setting a bad example for them might be dangerous."

"Uh huh," Phoenix said, unconvinced.

Kiria pulled back up to them, taking Nathan's elbow as she slid past. "Come on! Move your legs; it's all about balance and movement!"

"Aaaaaah! Shit, Kiria! Wall! Please! Damn, lemme go! No, wall!" He finally shouted as he slid across the ice on his backside. She skated up to him, hands on her hips as she halted feet from him.

"Don't be a wimp! Come on; time to try again!"

"I don't want to try again!" he protested, hauling himself up using the wall.

She sighed, skating up to Trucy. "You want to try?"

Trucy glanced down at her skates. "They're kind of unstable."

Kiria shook her head. "It's like magic; the more you practice, the better you get."

"But I don't wanna fall!"

"Edgeworth!" she shouted across the rink. He skated up beside them. "She's afraid of falling," she explained.

"So?"

She sighed, rolling her eyes. "Surely you did this as a kid! Take her other hand."

"And do what?"

"We'll skate with her!"

He sighed before taking the girl's free hand. "One lap."

It was easy to match their steps, and before long, Trucy was traveling around the rink smoothly. "Wow!" she said, looking around at the other skaters who seemed to be going slowly.

They slowed before stopping in front of the door. "Now go practice," Kiria said, handing her back to Phoenix, who wasn't much farther along than when they had started the lap.

"You're not bad at this at all," Edgeworth said as they matched strides again.

Kiria locked her fingers behind her back. "Lots of practice. My sister is excellent at ice skating, so, naturally, I wanted to be too. What about you?"

"It was an activity to do between studying for the bar exam."

Kiria nodded in understanding. "A little bit of exercise, a little bit of thinking. I get it."

Maya, Franziska, and Pearl appeared outside the rink. "Come join us!" Phoenix invited, but Maya shook her head.

"The rink is closing soon; they wouldn't let us get skates. They'll probably ask you guys to leave soon too."

Phoenix climbed out in relief. "Thank God. I'm not exactly the best at this."

"Then you should practice!" Franziska chided.

Trucy soon followed her father, sitting on a bench with Pearl, drinking hot cocoa from the concessions bar. The intercom announced the closing of the rink, and one by one, the patrons exited, soon leaving only Kiria and Edgeworth in the rink.

"Still want that race?" he asked her, a smirk on his face.

"You are _so_ on!"

"First one to five!" They lined up at the door, Nathan counting off. At the shouted, "Go!", they both took off like bullets. Edgeworth gained an early lead, but as the laps counted down, Kiria started catching up steadily. The sounds of the crowd were meaningless at this speed. They were soaring across the rink, knees crouched, hands clasped behind their backs. As they reached the final lap, the lead disappeared. They were neck and neck.

One wrong step, and Kiria slid, taking them both down. She shrieked as he fell on top of her, their limbs tangled together as they fell.

"Owww," she complained when they finally stopped.

He rubbed at his knee where it had struck the ice. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," she said, trying to get to her feet and falling again. "We were going pretty fast," she said, looking at how far they had slid.

Edgeworth nodded, standing and helping her to her feet. "It's a good thing no one else was on the ice." Kiria laughed, skating her way to the exit. He was right next to her, exiting the rink just after her.

"So, who won?" Trucy asked.

They looked at one another before Edgeworth chuckled. "I believe I fell last."

"No way!" Kiria said, and they bickered the entire way back.

* * *

**A/N: Another bit of Kiria/Edgeworth fluff. It's easy to write, and I was lazy. Now I'm going to go to bed so that I can work for my 6a shift tomorrow, because I don't get paid for writing fanfiction, so I have to work instead. c:**

**Reviews!**

**Blaze :: You're always so lenient with me! I'll agree that he's quite harsh in the original series. Here's another bit of softer Edgeworth for you. c:**

**Read and Review!**


	10. Frost

**Prompt #10 :: Frost**

Prompt: Frost  
Words: 925  
Summary: When Lang's Interpol group is stuck in England during the Dongzhi Festival, one man's need to get home surpasses the rest.

It crept up the window in tiny tendrils, white crystals beginning to form on the warmest parts of the window now. Shi-Long Lang sighed. If it was covering the windows, there was no way in hell he was going out there. The road would be iced over, and then his cycle would slip as it went down the road, and then he would crash. Two weeks before Christmas, and he would be on his back, sliding through the streets of Cambridge, England as his motorcycle went the other direction. He would be like a turtle on its back: rendered completely useless.

He cursed, rubbing at his eyes as he leaned back in his chair. Interpol had sent him here rather than home, where he could have celebrated Winter Solstice with his family. The case was impossible. He would never figure it out in time to get home. There was a surplus of evidence that pointed to a million different people, and until the culprit was found, he wouldn't be allowed to take holiday leave.

A year ago, he might have accused the first man who seemed guilty. But that was a year ago, and Lang was a different man now. He needed some decisive evidence before he put someone up for trial. He needed a sign.

"Lang Zi says that all men must work before they are allowed to rest," he reminded himself, but the saying wasn't comforting.

"Shifu!" One of his subordinates—Li Sheng, the father of a three-year-old child—said, breaking into the room. "Shifu, we found something!"

"What is it?"

"A piece of hair! And the follicle is still attached!"

Lang could feel the blood start to pump in his veins as adrenaline started running. "Excellent! Bring it in!"

"Yes, Shifu!"

The hair, it seemed, hadn't belonged to the culprit of the murder they were investigating, but the victim. The spirits that had risen in his men quickly sank. It was becoming apparent that none of them would be home for the winter solstice. They were once again at a dead end.

The days passed too quickly for their investigation. In no time, December 21st, the day of the solstice, had come and gone. Morale was at an all-time low. Lang had barely managed to drag himself out of bed that morning. To mark the holiday, they had been given the day off, but spending it in bed seemed to be a poor way to celebrate.

Most of the men chose to go out on the town, spending time in bars or shopping for their relatives. Only himself and Li Sheng were left in the testing facility.

"Why aren't you out there?" Lang asked, but it was mainly out of politeness.

Li shook his head. "It doesn't feel right. Spending Dongzhi somewhere other than home; I'd rather spend it like a normal day."

Lang agreed. Attempting to celebrate felt like rubbing salt in the wound. "What about your family? Have you talked to them?"

Li's expression faltered. He looked down at his lap, his fingers rubbing against each other. "I did."

"What's wrong?"

"It's my son, Shifu." He swallowed the lump in his throat before shaking his head. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to burden you."

"No, please. Tell me."

"He's been diagnosed with leukemia. It doesn't look good, my wife tells me. He's struggling to live through the night, and I am _here_, not with him."

Childhood leukemia was rare in Zheng Fa, something that he had always attributed to lifestyle choices, but it wasn't absent, and if Li's son was struggling through the night, it must be serious. "Come on; let's solve this case," he said, turning to the evidence again.

They worked through the night. When things seemed bleakest, at three in the morning, some of the men who had been out late came back and immediately started working with them again. It became a well-oiled machine. When one man would get tired, another would step up and take his place.

The break in the case came four days later. The culprit had grabbed one of the witnesses' leather jacket. The fingerprints preserved had brought him to justice.

"Time to go home," Lang announced to his men as the local police took the evidence for safe-keeping.

There was general rejoicing. Lang handed out the tickets for the men to go back to where they were from, most of them being to Zheng Fa, but Li Sheng's ticket was a little different. "You should pack as soon as possible."

Li looked down at his ticket and then back up at his superior. "Shifu," he protested, but Lang silenced him.

"You need to be with your son," was all he said before pushing the first ticket to Zheng Fa back into Li's stunned hands.

Li fled the room as quickly as possible, and Lang continued to hand out the tickets. It wasn't until hours later, when Li had already flown out and Lang was just retiring back to his room, that he saw the note sitting on his luggage.

_'Shifu,_

_Here in England, I remembered a saying by Lang Zi: the frost is most beautiful when it is coldest, but the heat fails to fully eradicate its presence._

_I wish your family good wishes.'_

Lang smiled, putting the note back in his luggage. He had done the right thing, this he knew.

* * *

**A/N: Sitting pretty in more comfortable territory with this one. There's just enough angst in it to be not as much fluff. And it would be hard to write Lang as total fluff. He's kind of got a hard shell you have to crack through first. But I wanted to get away from the main characters.**

**As I live in an area that doesn't get a lot of frost, I didn't have a lot to write about on this one. Hopefully it seems more related to the prompt than just "Insert random quote about frost here, and proceed with totally unrelated and badly written fanfiction". Again, hopefully. I was really trying to work with sentiment on this one. Seeing as childhood leukemia is such a sensitive topic, I didn't want it to swallow the whole prompt and become ridiculously sad.**

**Reviews!**

**Blaze: Haha, I suck at ice skating. Seriously. Two years ago, I went ice skating with my best friend on New Years and was so traumatized by it that I haven't went again since. So, I hope you had more fun than I did, haha. **

**OddWriter12: That last one was a lot fluffier than I usually write! Although it wasn't as fluffy as Mistletoe or Pie, in my opinion. Maybe it was. Ugh, I can't rate them! Oh, happy Hanukkah! To tell the truth, I'm not the best person to ask about Christmas, especially here in the USA (if it hasn't been mentioned yet, I'm first-generation American, with a French parent on one side and a Japanese on the other. Holidays at home are _strange_), but I do try to write it from a mostly-American point of view. And, hey, if a cultural exchange is going on, that's always great. You should tell me more about Hanukkah! Haha, that's my readers' Christmas present: soft Edgeworth, apparently?  
**

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	11. Eggnog

**Prompt #11 :: Eggnog**

Prompt: Eggnog  
Words: 945  
Summary: A glass of eggnog makes our favorite attorneys question where they might have been today had things been different.

"My mom used to make the best eggnog. She'd serve these tumblers full of homemade eggnog spiked with Kahlua and we'd all get some, even Michelle and I when we were old enough to stay up with the adults." Nathan took a sip of his drink, a smile hovering on his lips as he thought about the times he'd spent with his family. "She would serve eggnog and we would listen to Dean Martin sing Christmas carols. It's one of my fondest memories, now that I think about it."

The Christmas party had wound down to good friends all sitting on the couch in the Wright Talent Agency, sipping at store-bought eggnog and talking about their holiday traditions. Kiria wrinkled her nose as she took an experimental sip before pushing her cup over to Nathan. "You can have mine. It tastes a little too much like _tamagozake_ for my tastes."

"Not a fan? Have some more champagne," Phoenix said, handing her the bottle from the table next to him.

"It's strange, but not at all unpleasant," Franziska decided, taking another drink of hers. "It tastes a little like custard."

Larry chuckled. "It's better with alcohol. Hey Nick! You've gotta have some rum, right?"

"Why would I have rum at the office, especially with a child that works here?"

"Geez, dude, that's why you put it up in a high cabinet! Trucy couldn't get to it then!"

Phoenix and Maya both groaned, thinking of how Trucy had gotten into the top of their shared closet and found her Christmas presents just the week before. "Uh huh. She couldn't get to it? Really, Larry, remember when we were kids? That was a challenge, and we were going to try our damnedest to try to prove it wrong."

Edgeworth laughed. "As I remember, we were told not to get into the art closet in second grade, and we managed that one."

Phoenix sighed and Larry laughed. "And we got weeks of detention for it too," Phoenix remembered. "Apparently it was seen as 'disrespecting boundaries' or something like that. My mom was so pissed when she found out."

Edgeworth cringed. "My father wasn't much happier, I can imagine."

Nathan leaned forward. "Edgeworth in trouble? I can't even imagine it."

"Imagine it, Price, because it happened a lot when I was young."

They laughed. "Funny how different we are from when we were kids," Gumshoe said distantly, Maggey curved into his side. "I mean, if I was still like I was when I was a kid, I might be a doctor by now!"

"Was that what you wanted to be as a kid?" Kiria asked, folding her legs beneath her.

"A doctor? Yeah," he said, taking a drink of his eggnog. "I was going to be Doctor Dick Gumshoe! And then I failed high school math. And chemistry."

The others in the room were trying to muster up some surprise, but it was falling flat. "I was going to be an artist. I almost did," Phoenix said to cover up the awkward silence.

"Yeah, well, thank goodness you didn't!" Maya said, her cheeks puffing up.

"And we all know Edgeworth was going to be a Defense Attorney," Nathan said. "Did you ever want to be anything other than an prosecutor, Franziska?"

She shook her head primly. "Never. Prosecuting is in my blood."

"And Kiria wanted to be a dancer."

"And we all know how that one turned out," she said bitterly before taking another swig of champagne. "I know you wanted to dance too, Nate, but what did you want to be when you were a kid?"

Nathan laughed, his head hanging. "My mom says that I wanted to be a greeter. You know those people who stand in the front of stores and just say hello to people? That was what I wanted to be. And then she said I wanted to be one of Santa's elves, when I got older. Apparently I begged for her to send me to the North Pole so that I could start helping Santa at an early age."

"Santa Clause has elves?" Kiria asked.

"Santa's elves make the toys that kids get for Christmas," Edgeworth explained. "Think of Santa as a supervisor; he just oversees the making of the toys."

"Why would anyone want to be an elf then?" she asked, baffled. "You'd think you'd want to be Santa."

Nathan shook his head. "I wanted to help all of the elves by giving them all eggnog. I would travel to see my mom, and she would give me loads of it to bring back to the other elves, and we would all be happy. Needless to say, I didn't realize Santa Clause wasn't real until a very late age. In fact, I think my best friend in grade school ruined it for me."

"And that was when you became a dancer?" Phoenix asked.

Nathan shrugged. "It took a few more years, but I figured it out eventually."

They all smiled into their drinks, wondering what life would have been like had they not taken the paths they had. After a minute, Gumshoe cleared his throat. "I'm glad I became a detective."

"And I'm glad I became a Prosecutor," Nathan admitted.

The others gently nodded their agreement. "I'm glad I met all of you," Maya said.

"We are too. But come on! Let's sit around and reminisce our childhood some more! Anyone got any good drunken eggnog stories?" Nathan asked with a devious smile on his face.

* * *

**A/N: A lighter one to cheer people up after that last one! If you guys have anything you'd like to see, speak up now; I'm having to budget my prompts carefully! I already have one request for an established Kiria/Edgeworth fic (I really need a shorter way to write that out), and I'll try anything once! **

**Reviews!**

**Blaze :: Haha, I'm glad you had fun! I remember coming home with tons of bruises, so I hope you don't hurt as badly as I did. Then again, my balance is sub-par at best. Despite the fact that I wasn't fond of the GK/AAI series, I did like Lang, so he had to have his own. Haha, I'm sure his Lang Zi sayings are probably Confucius sayings, but I'm too lazy to look for Confucius quotes. So, I'll create my own! But I'm glad you liked that one. I'm trying to stay out of the Hurt/Comfort genre in general, because then I get angsty and it's fun for me, but not so Christmas-y to read, so I don't know there'll be another one like it.**

**OddWriter12 :: Aha! Another one with a split background like I have! People are always asking me how my parents met, and it's really not an exciting story at all. Is yours the same way? Haha, if I could put a soft!Edgey under everyone's pillows as a gift, I would. Oh, that last one, I was walking a _very_ thin line, I know. Bringing up childhood sickness is a good way to kill any sort of sentiment other than just sadness. But it seems like the holiday spirit was still there, so I'm going to count it a semi-success.**

**Read and review!**


	12. Author's Note

Author's Note ::

A serious issue has recently come to my attention, as I have now been spammed with flames and hateful comments for the second time now, and I'd like to address it with everyone before dropping it and hoping it doesn't come back again.

I don't care who you are, where you are from, or what you have been through, that does _not_ give you the right to cast hateful and malicious aspersions on myself or my readers. This includes issues of race, nationality, sexuality, and gender. If you have a hateful opinion of someone, kindly keep it to yourself. If you have a problem with me that is something I can fix or need to change, please message me about it. But messaging me "You're going to hell" for not believing in Christianity, or calling me a hypocrite because one of my readers is of a different nationality is ridiculous and, quite frankly, pathetic. Same with the gender roles thing. Yes, I believe women should have the same rights as men. No, I do not believe we should get any more rights than men receive. And the idea that women are supposed to stay in the home and cater to the man is offensive to me, and telling me that I'm obviously doing something wrong if I'm writing and working and going to college at the same time is more than disrespectful.

The same applies to my readers. I may disagree with the politics of another country (hell, I disagree with the politics of my own country half of the time), but that does _not_ mean that I am a hypocrite for treating them as separate from the country they live in.

The comments and messages have now been deleted and the users have been reported for abuse, but I don't want this happening again. The great thing about Fanfiction was always that readers and writers were coming together, bridging the gap and connecting people so that we could all learn about one another. The fact that this is a problem is honestly disheartening, seeing as what this does is just break people apart. Again, should you have a problem, come talk to me about it and we'll work something out. Beyond that, any more spiteful or malicious comments will be treated the same (and a quick FYI, I refuse to be run off this site, and I'm quite tenacious when I want to be).

For those of you who this doesn't apply to (which is like, 99% of you; seriously, I love you guys), keep doing what you're doing. I just wanted to make it known that I will not stand for things like this, and any more of them will result in action.

Hopefully I'll get the next installment up soon! Happy holidays, everyone!


	13. Cider

**Prompt #12 :: Cider**

Prompt: Cider  
Words: 746  
Summary: Apollo wonders why Phoenix and Trucy are looking for a pumpkin during Christmas.

"Apple cider, Polly?" Trucy asked, thrusting the styrofoam cup at me. We were at a pumpkin patch, although what we needed a pumpkin five days before Christmas for, I wasn't quite sure.

"I'll stick to coffee, but thanks." I held up my travel mug, which held all the caffeine I could ever want. It was far too early in the morning. Usually I'd have started practicing my Chords of Steel routine right about now, but instead, Trucy and Mr. Wright had shown up at my doorstep with a pair of rubber boots and giant smiles on their faces.

Her mouth twisted in disapproval. "You know that coffee's bad for your vocal cords, right?"

"It's not the coffee, it's the caffeine. Besides, I don't have a trial today, so I can't imagine why I would ever need to shout."

"You probably don't have to shout _in_ the trial either," Mr. Wright said with a smirk. "I know the Judge is hard of hearing, but just don't mumble, and the prosecutor will parrot after you anyways."

"Or mock you," I said, remembering how Klavier Gavin had given me a damn good mocking the last time I'd invoked a penalty.

"They certainly like to mock you," he agreed.

Trucy giggled. "It must be the hair."

. . . I think we must have been on different pages.

"What are we looking for a pumpkin for, anyways?" I groused. "I mean, shouldn't we be looking for a Christmas tree?"

"We did that last week!" Trucy reminded me. "And then you fell into the mud and got the train all dirty and then the conductor came back and yelled at you. Don't you remember?"

Oh, if only I didn't. "Still, aren't pumpkins the wrong holiday?"

"Pumpkins are appropriate for every holiday," Mr. Wright said.

I tried to think of a proper Valentine's Day gift with pumpkin as we continued to trudge through the patch. "Really, what are we picking out a pumpkin for?" I finally asked.

"Pumpkin cider."

"Pumpkin . . . cider?"

"Pumpkin cider."

"Yeah! It's so good, and then you top it with whipped cream, and it's even better, right, Daddy?"

"Right. My mom's old recipe requires a fresh pumpkin," Mr. Wright said. "We tried canned one year, but it wasn't as good."

"It was disappointing," Trucy agreed.

"What's so special about this cider?" I asked, still trying to wrap my head around pumpkins in cider. I mean, what was wrong with good ol' apples?

Mr. Wright shook his head. "It tastes good." He cut off, as if there was something else he wanted to say, but couldn't. I didn't push it, and finally, an hour and a half later, we had a pumpkin picked out and ready to go. Trucy held it, her arms almost spanning its width, as we got onto the bus. It wasn't until we got to the Wright residence and Trucy had run into the kitchen to wash the pumpkin of its dirt that Mr. Wright spoke again. "Christmas is for all those traditions we remember but haven't practiced in years. It's the time that we remind ourselves what happened earlier in the year and years before." He sighed, moving to the window. "December always brings back the memories. It's when I remember all of the smiling faces I thought I had forgotten. Christmas is a time for reflection, a time for family and friends. It's the time that I remember my family before Trucy, and am thankful for her now." He turned back, a sad smile on his face. "It's hard to spend the holidays alone, you know?"

Looking back, I think this is the moment that I have understood Mr. Wright best, over all the years we've worked together.

"Yeah," I said, remembering the holidays. "Yeah, I know."

* * *

**A/N: Some of you might be a little confused by the 1st Person, but it's how I always write Apollo, so I figured I'd continue it like that. Besides, in my opinion, I write 1st better than 3rd, but I digress.**

**Back in the Hurt/Comfort realm again, but I at least needed to get into the spirit once again. I'll try to post another one tonight, where I'll answer your comments I get from all the chapters. c:**

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	14. Peppermint

**Prompt #13 :: Peppermint**

Prompt: Peppermint  
Words: 992  
Summary: Edgeworth thinks it's about time Kiria got over her fear of purchased coffee. Established Kiria/Edgeworth, references Prompt #7, Pie.

Kiria eyed the coffee cup that her current boyfriend, Miles Edgeworth, set on her desk with distaste. Ever since her poisoning, she had been picky about what she would drink, and anything that was coffee and purchased was off limits. This one had an obvious Starbucks logo written on the side of the cup. "What's this?"

"A treat. I know how much you like peppermint mochas, so I took it on myself to buy you one." His expression was smooth and unreadable. "I even got them to put in some extra peppermint syrup in it."

It was tempting, but she still remembered how her body had reacted after the last cup of coffee someone else had bought for her. "I appreciate it," she started, pushing it back.

He picked it up and took a sip, holding eye contact with her as he set the cup back on her desk. "It's not poisoned, in case you were wondering."

She gave a humorless chuckle. "I really can't."

"You can. I get not getting coffee from the coffee cart at the courthouse, but you've got to get over this stigma against all purchased coffee. You've put a dent in the coffee economy singlehandedly now that you're not buying coffee in the mornings." He leaned against her desk, trying to be as lighthearted with this as possible but knowing the following conversation would not be easy. "Just one drink," he wheedled when she didn't say anything.

"I've got to get some evidence for my trial," she said, standing and beginning to round the desk. She was completely shutting down, which was the opposite of what he had intended.

His hand caught her wrist as she brushed past him. With very little effort, he turned her so that she was cradled into his chest. He had learned early into their relationship that she was easy to lead physically, a remnant of her life as a dancer. "Talk to me," he murmured into her ear.

"I can't do it yet," she said, her voice muffled by his jacket. Her hands knotted into his lapels, hauling him even closer, if that was possible. "I look at it and I can't think of anything but Rydeine."

"It's been almost a year and a half," he reminded her.

"I know. And I know that I should attempt again. It's just that . . . I'm scared." She swallowed as soon as the last word had exited her mouth. "I don't want it to happen again."

He placed a gentle kiss on the top of her head. Her hair smelled of vanilla. "It's not going to. You're free. You're clean." He pulled back so that he could see her eyes. "And if it ever happens again, you've got me to pull you out of it."

She gave a deep sigh before turning towards her desk. "Peppermint mochas _are_ my favorite," she said quietly.

"I know."

"And I know you bought it, so unless the barista has superpowers or something, it's got to be clean."

"Mmhm."

She picked up the paper cup, fingers playing around the cardboard sleeve. "One drink won't kill me."

"Not at all."

Tentatively, hands shaking a little, she brought the cup to her lips. The warm coffee rushed into her mouth, and she closed her eyes before she swallowed it, the strong tinge of peppermint coloring the taste. "That wasn't so hard," she murmured.

"Not horrible?"

"I think I'll survive." She turned back to him, pressing her lips to his. "Thank you."

"Any time," he said, quoting her own words from when they had ate pie together on Christmas Eve last year.

"How'd you know I was ready?" she asked, sinking into one of the armchairs that adorned her office.

Miles shrugged, sitting in the chair opposite hers. "I figured, if von Karma could push me into going up and down elevators six months after DL-6, you could drink a cup of coffee a year and a half after your poisoning."

"He didn't!" she gasped.

"He did. Ten hours later, I could ride in an elevator without collapsing into a mess." It hadn't been one of the best experiences of his life, but . . .

She looked appalled. "_Ten hours_?"

"I may be exaggerating. I was quite young." He grinned when she took a sip of the coffee absentmindedly, engrossed in his story as she was. "A year later, we spent some time in glass elevators as well. He seemed to think that I had developed a fear of heights along with my fear of elevators."

"I like glass elevators."

"I do too. And besides, it got me out of my studies for a few hours, so I pretended to cower in fear for a while and enjoyed the ride." He wished they were on a couch, like they had a habit of doing whenever they finished trials together. They would go out to dinner and then curl up on the couch and talk. "That one was much more pleasant."

"I can imagine." She took another drink. He estimated she had to be near the dregs now; he'd bought the smallest size he could, and she had been sipping at it frequently as he talked.

He stood, placing his hands on the arms of her chair as he leaned over her. "This hasn't been so bad, has it?" he asked, nodding towards the cup.

She shook it, looking surprised when only a little liquid sloshed around. "No, not at all." Her breath was cool from the mint.

He pressed his forehead to hers, and knew they were thinking the same thing. Even when she tripped, he would be there to pick her up, and vice versa. "Forever," he murmured. Her arms came up to cradle his face, and they both closed their eyes.

* * *

**A/N: I think everyone needs a little bit of fluff today. Got off of work only to find out about the Connecticut massacre (26 dead at an elementary school) and the China knife attack (22, if I remember correctly, most of the victims children as well). This hits hard, seeing as just three days ago, a major shooting was in Clackamas (2 dead, one injured; over 60 shots fired), which is an hour and a half north of where I live. If anyone knows anyone who was affected by this, I pass along my condolences and wish the best for them and their families.**

**It really brings my own situation into perspective. I was quite irritated this morning, and that may have been felt in my author's note. My anger has kind of evaporated in light of everything that has happened today. I just wish for everyone to be safe and happy, and if anyone has any problems, please know that I am more than willing to listen and help out in any way I can.**

**Reviews:**

**OddWriter12 :: Haha, you couldn't get my family into the same room together; we don't do the whole get-together thing. There would be lots of blood if we did. Mmm, eggnog is kind of strange. I've been trying to figure out how to explain it all day. If you've ever had a creme brulee, the consistency is like that without as much gelatin. It's very thick and frothy. To tell the truth, I'm with Kiria; it tastes too much like _tamagozake_ for my tastes (a cold medicine in Japan that is like eggnog but spiked with sake instead). It's the smell that makes me reminisce; it smells like cinnamon and cloves, which evokes the feeling of the holidays in me. I'm glad you liked the chapter! **

**Read and Review!**


	15. Gingerbread

**Prompt #14 :: Gingerbread**

Prompt: Gingerbread  
Words: 1,000  
Summary: The Wright Talent Agency's first annual Gingerbread House making contest results in the characters realizing who is good at architecture and who just needs to be reassigned to decoration.

"So, what's the surprise?" Franziska asked, irritation mounting as she sat at a table in the Wright Talent Agency. Edgeworth, Nathan, Kiria, Gumshoe, Larry, Pearl, and Trucy were all gathered around the table as well. All of the adults had been told that this was a surprise, and so the majority of the table was clueless as to what was going on.

Trucy and Pearl, however, were giggling. "Daddy's almost done," Trucy said.

"Any clues what it is?" Nathan asked Kiria.

The sole Defense Attorney at the table gave him a bewildered stare and shook her head. "No clue."

"You work here!"

"Doesn't mean I know everything that happens around here."

Pearl sighed. "If only Mystic Maya were here." Maya had been called back to Kurain for a small emergency, but had insisted that Pearl stay and have some fun before going back to the village.

"Hey pal, I'm sure she's having plenty of fun where she is," Gumshoe reassured her.

"And it's ready!" Phoenix exited from the kitchen holding two large pieces of cardboard high in the air. "Truce, Pearls, would you grab the others?"

They slid off their seats to do as he asked, and he placed the cardboard on the table. Each piece was loaded high with slats of gingerbread, two pastry bags with icing, and candy. He slid the first two pieces to Franziska and Edgeworth before running over to the kitchenette door before Trucy and Pearl dropped the other pieces of cardboard. Both of them held one each, and Phoenix came out with the last two, placing them in front of Gumshoe and Larry. "Welcome to the Wright Talent Agency's first Gingerbread House Building contest," he said, taking the final empty seat at the table.

Everyone who had just received the gingerbread making kit stared blankly at him. "A gingerbread house making contest?" Larry finally repeated slowly. A moment later, he had a silly grin on his face. "Sounds like fun!"

"Uh, what?" Kiria asked.

In hindsight it was probably not the best idea to expect the person who had never heard of a gingerbread house to build one.

"You use the gingerbread, icing, and candy to make a house," Phoenix explained.

"Why?"

There was an awkward silence as everyone thought of a reasonable explanation as to why one might build a gingerbread house. "Because it's fun?" Nathan finally said.

"It's a childhood tradition," Franziska asserted. "Why, when I was a child, I would spend hours making these houses during the holidays."

"Was it a _perfect_ gingerbread house?" Nathan teased, receiving a whip lash for his cheekiness.

"You all have two hours to build the best gingerbread house," Phoenix said, starting to outline the rules. "You don't have to use all of the materials provided, and you can build any sort of structure you'd like. Are there any questions?"

Still a bit confused by this so-called "surprise", they shook their heads.

"Pearl, Trucy, and myself will be the judges, and the winner shall receive one favor from one of the participants or judges, provided it is appropriate. Now, unless anyone has any objections," he said, standing and setting a timer, "your two hours start," he paused before hitting the 'Start' button, "now."

There was an early flurry of movement as everyone started putting the gingerbread pieces together. It wasn't long, however, before Kiria realized she had the wrong idea of how to do this. She had been attempting a standard box-with-roof, but the gingerbread was sliding, not setting right at all. She fought the urge to groan. She'd never been good at art projects. After an hour had passed and she didn't even have a basic structure up (two walls were not going to give her a win in a whole hour), she placed the pieces back on her cardboard and watched her competitors.

Franziska had taken an early lead. She was adorning her house with brightly colored gumdrops, and it looked like she had a pattern set out for a tiled roof. Edgeworth wasn't far behind her, using a small knife to cut windows out of his gingerbread. Larry, oddly enough, was good at this as well. He had done a less-traditional style of house, with a flat roof, but was using the candy to create an interesting motif on the top of the roof. Nathan too had chosen a strange design for his house, which seemed to be hindering where he could put candy now that he had adorned his roof with giant gumdrops.

Only Gumshoe was, like her, struggling with the house itself. She would have offered her help, but seeing how badly she had put her own together, it would have been like the blind leading the blind.

"One hour remaining!" Pearl declared.

Franziska looked up, seeing Kiria sitting stationary before pushing some candy over to her. "You can help attach the candy for the roof," she declared, handing her the other pastry bag of icing. Gumshoe looked up, a bit miserable now that he had failed in building the house, and Kiria handed him the other half of the candy Franziska had pushed over to her.

"You can do the other side of the roof."

Nathan put his hands up in defeat. "What can I do?"

Franziska handed him some gumdrops. "You can do the landscape." She outlined where she wanted the "bushes", and Larry, after a few minutes, helped him at the task as well. "Mine wasn't going well," he admitted, squirting some icing so that Nathan could place the candy.

"Twenty minutes left!" Trucy said, and Edgeworth looked at the team project in the center of the table before setting his house aside and creating the icicles with icing Franziska had loved as a child.

"What does this mean for the competition?" Trucy asked Phoenix.

Phoenix merely shrugged. "I'm not sure this is about winning any more."

* * *

**A/N: I was never good at gingerbread house making either. I don't remember doing it too often as a child; I might have done it once or twice. Most of the gingerbread we made at home was pain d'epices, which is the closest to gingerbread the French get (or my family, at least). I remember making gingerbread houses at school with graham crackers while I was in elementary school and being completely lost as to how you built one (3D structures and I still don't get along). I would have been with Gumshoe there. **

**According to Wikipedia, which is my go-to for most cultural things, says that Germany is known for its gingerbread, so I figured Franziska and Edgeworth might have some good practice at making the houses.**

**Reviews!**

**Shizuka Ayasato :: Haha, yeah, I was like Nathan when I went ice skating a few years ago. So if that passage rang true, that's because it's based off a true story. Seriously, the wall is the best thing to happen to amateur ice skaters. Just saying. Nice to see you reading this; hope you stick around for more!**

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	16. Presents

**Prompt #15 :: Presents**

Prompt: Presents  
Words: 748  
Summary: When Maya tries to play Santa Clause for the office, she comes face to face with the real Santa Clause.

The allure of Christmas presents had always motivated Maya Fey to rise early on Christmas. Sure, it was five in the morning, and maybe Santa could be running a little late, but when she broke into the living room to see the presents, they were always there, wrapped in shiny red wrapping paper and adorned with gold bows. This was the universal law of Christmas: Santa's presents would always be there when she woke up.

Years later, now that she was an adult and had realized that Santa Clause had been the elders, she was determined to do the same for Pearl.

Aunt Morgan had always been a little strict, she acknowledged as she hefted the bag of presents down from the top of the closet. Early on, Morgan had told Pearl that Santa didn't exist, which caused Pearl to tell everyone else her age in the village. She had ruined a lot of Christmases that year. It had also taken some of the fun out of Christmas. The elders, who had still regaled her with presents like everyone else in the village, didn't take the time to disguise some of the presents like they did for the other children. The shine in their eyes whenever they pulled a ball from a package shaped like a candy wrapper or the amazement when they opened large boxes only to find them stacked like matryoshka dolls and a tiny but valuable present nested inside the last one was absent from Pearl's gifts.

There were no elders this year, as they were staying with Phoenix, but Maya had decided that it was time to bring some magic back into Christmas.

She hauled the bag across the office, pausing to make sure no one was following her, before dragging the bag the rest of the way and putting her hands on her knees, panting. There were presents for everyone in here: Nick, Pearly, Kiria, even Mr. Edgeworth and Ms. von Karma. They had all been wrapped with the shiny red wrapping paper she had gone to three different stores to buy (although the wrapping job was a little sloppy; Maya hoped no one noticed) and golden ribbon.

She'd distributed half of the presents under the tiny Christmas tree in the office before something creaked behind her. She froze, looking around for something to attack the intruder with. Nick had one of his law books on the desk; that would have to do. She crept over to it, pausing when she heard music floating through the air. An upbeat instrumental version of "Jingle Bells" played, getting closer and closer until the door to the office opened. Maya turned, confused now.

Standing in the doorway was Santa Clause. He looked thinner than she had ever imagined him being, but he was certainly there, white beard and all. "S-Santa?" she stuttered.

They stared at each other momentarily. Santa waved. "You're doing my job," he pointed out, voice low and gravelly. She looked down at the bag of presents.

"I guess I am, aren't I?" She hesitated. "So, does that mean that the elders didn't give us Christmas presents every year?"

"If they say they're from Santa, they're from Santa," he reassured her. His voice cracked on the last word, but Maya was too stunned to notice.

"You're real?"

He nodded. "And you should get to bed! After all, you have to be asleep for me to give you your presents!" She gasped, looking around for a place to put the bag and bolt. He shook his head. "I'll put those out for you, don't worry. Go home."

"Thanks, Santa!" She smiled widely, and Santa smiled back.

"Sweet dreams, Maya Fey," he said as she ran out the door.

As soon as he heard it lock, Phoenix whipped off the Santa hat and beard. The whole outfit was too hot; Santa Clause would have died of heat stroke, were he real. "Now, time to finish up in here," he murmured, putting out his own presents and setting hers out. It was festive, all of the wrapping paper (although, he noted with satisfaction, both he and Maya were awful present wrappers; no one would ever notice the fact that the presents from Santa had been sent from two different people. He put the last one out, sighed, and hunted for the presents with his name on them. If he shook them now, he might be able to figure them out before Christmas morning.

* * *

**A/N: Winter Storm Draco is hitting my area of the USA at the moment. Power went out last night, which meant that I couldn't post this chapter! They're talking about snow here in the valley tonight, which is rare (and hopefully, not going to happen; anyone wanna have a sleepover? The roommate is at home with her family). **

**A little bit of Phoenix/Maya fluff. As they're one of my favorite pairings of the series, I figured I should give them a little more love than I have been. Unfortunately, as I don't write Maya overly romantic, and Nick is pretty awkward most of the time, it doesn't really result in lots of fluff.**

**Next chapter will be up in a few minutes, and I'll reply to comments then!**


	17. Fireplace

**Prompt #16 :: Fireplace**

Prompt: Fireplace  
Words: 996  
Summary: How could Christmas go wrong with the Queen of Bad Luck and the clumsiest detective in the police department?

"Merry Christmas, Maggey."

Dick Gumshoe led his girlfiend into his studio apartment, which was little more than a cardboard box and a bathroom. Although she had been over many times before, he felt particularly inadequate this time, as it lacked the proper decoration. His salary, which supported both him and Missile, was hardly enough to buy a Christmas tree and ornaments. The wreath on his front door had been a gift from the police chief. On this Christmas night, he realized just how inadequate his apartment seemed, dark compared to the bright Christmas outside.

She didn't even seem to notice. "Merry Christmas," she said, placing the giant baking dish she'd brought on the counter. He had offered to carry it for her, but she had puffed up her cheeks at him-something that seemed more cute than threatening-and reminded him that she had once been a police officer too. She could certainly carry a baking dish. "I brought the Byrde world-famous stuffing," she said at his questioning look. "It's got all sorts of stuff in it, and it's really good! O-Or I think it is, anyways."

"I'm sure I'll love it, pal." He quirked a smile at her before taking the rest of their meal out of the oven. Two turkey breasts, seasoned and roasted in the oven and some sad-looking asparagus that had been on sale at the supermarket, but he figured having something was better than having nothing. "We're feasting this Christmas," he declared with a wink at her.

She missed it, for she was looking at the old fireplace on the west wall. "I didn't know you had a fireplace," she said.

"Ah, yeah. I don't use it much; landlord says it'll catch fire."

"Isn't that what it's supposed to do?"

Gumshoe thought that over for a long moment before nodding. "Yeah, I guess it is. It's probably safe to use then."

She giggled. He got the plates down from the cupboard and got the bottle of cheap champagne out from the fridge. "You ready for dinner?"

"You bet." She came back over, accepted the paper cup of champagne he gave her, and smacked it against his when he had poured his own. "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas," he toasted, throwing back the champagne like it was a shot before coughing.

"Ohmaigawd, are you okay?" she asked, rounding the counter to slap at his back.

The champagne burned as it made its way down his throat. "Fine," he gasped. He hadn't expected the rush of bubbles to hurt quite so badly when he threw it down his esophagus, but it had. "Just fine."

They were settled back at the bar at no time, dishing up plates of their dinner. It wasn't until they tasted any of it that they realized something had gone wrong. He had been excited for the stuffing, but as he took his first bite, the taste of salt hit him square in the face. And as someone who ate ramen noodles every day, that was a feat. "Lots of salt in this, isn't there?" he asked, trying to keep the expression of his face.

"Salty? It's supposed to be sweet." She took a bite of hers before spitting it out into her napkin. "Oh, not again," she moaned.

"What?" he asked, hating to see her distressed like this.

"I mixed up the salt and sugar again!" she wailed.

Ah, that explained it.

"It's good," he tried to convince her, shoveling down the rest of his portion to illustrate. His taste buds went numb. "See?"

She didn't look particularly convinced, but calmed down and picked at her asparagus. He took another helping to assuage her concerns.

To cover up the fact that their meal was less than delicious, he asked about her new job. She brightened immediately. She was working as a bailiff for the courthouse. "My supervisor is Mike Meekins," she said. "He's really nice. He's just really loud when he gets enthusiastic. And he carries around a bullhorn that he shouts into too."

The name was just on the edge of Gumshoe's memory, but the niggling disappeared the next minute, so he figured it was someone he hadn't met. But the bullhorn thing; now that was familiar from somewhere . . .

"Dessert!" Maggey announced, pulling something from her purse. "I brought candy canes for us." She pawed through the bag, looking confused. "I know they're in here somewhere." She dumped the contents out on the table. "Where are they? . . . They're not in here!"

He was a little disappointed, but covered that up immediately, rummaging through the fridge. "That's okay," he said, pulling something out of his freezer. "I've got mints!"

Delighted, she took one and placed it in her mouth. "It tastes a little like toothpaste," she said after a minute.

"What do you think about a fire?" he asked quickly changing the subject.

They made a small fire using the newspaper and a broken desk, lighting it all with a lighter. It flared for a second before dying down to tiny little flames. "We can barely feel it," she said, sitting on the couch.

"We can huddle together for warmth." He sat next to her, placing his arm around her shoulders.

Missile, who had been hiding in the other room, jumped up onto the couch and squirmed his way between them. Gumshoe groaned internally. All he had wanted to do was cuddle with Maggey for a while before she went home thinking about how awful this Christmas had been. He had more than failed at making this a good Christmas for her. But as she laid her head on his shoulder, half-leaning on Missile, she murmured, "This is nice."

"Hm?"

"Sitting here like this in front of the fire. It's nice."

Gumshoe closed his eyes. It was nice, even with Missile's body pressing against his leg making it numb. If he closed his eyes, he could even feel the heat from the fireplace.

* * *

**A/N: I wondered if people would understand the toothpaste joke, but I ran out of words (it's supposed to be 1k or less), so I'll have to explain it down here. A culinary magazine recently posted a tip in one of their magazines that for an after-dinner mint, you should cut up toothpaste and stick it in the freezer for it to harden. I don't know about you (and I haven't tried it, but I still remember my mom telling me not to eat toothpaste when I was a kid), but that sounds gross to me. Besides, can't you get sick from it?**

**Hoping to get in another chapter tonight, but the weather's got to hold out on me here. It may be a delay before I get the next few up, depending on how the storm proceeds. It's supposed to be gone by Thursday, they're saying.**

**Oh, and I feel awful about making you guys wait for the last chapter too! I got all of these comments going, "These just make me so happy" and "they're so cute; I love reading them" and then I immediately miss a chapter. I know it's not my fault this time, but sorry, guys. D:**

**Reviews!**

**Blaze :: I hope you're feeling better now! Lots of fluids and rest! Did yours at least stay up? I could never figure out how they got the icing to stick without everything sliding. Then again, I've never had much patience. Glad you like the Edgeworth/Kiria; we'll see if we get another chapter up with them before this challenge is over. I'm kind of going to miss this challenge once the 25 prompts are done.**

**Sakana-chan63 :: Silent or not, I'm so glad you're enjoying them. Of course, giving me a little motivation is always nice, haha. But really, I'm glad you're liking the fluff. You should build a gingerbread house this year then! Especially if you get a bunch of people together to do it with. I don't really remember building the one I did in class very well (I was in elementary school, which was about eight to ten years ago; too lazy to seriously do the math), but I'm sure doing it now would be fun!**

**Shizuka Ayasato :: I at least tried to ice skate, I'll give you that one. But the bruises on my butt and tailbone told me that I was doing something wrong. Really, it was traumatic. My best friend and I had actually gone there to shoot a cosplay video (there was a portion of it where she was ice skating), so most of the time, I had the camera and was filming. But we finally finished and she was like, "Come out here with me!" Bad idea. Hey, the other fics are long and completely different from this little oneshot collection. It's certainly not everyone's cup of tea. But I'm glad you feel at least a little familiar with Nate and Kiria. I'll try to keep updating as quickly as I can!**

**Read and Review?**


	18. Stockings

**Prompt #17 :: Stockings**

Prompt: Stockings/Socks  
Words: 719  
Summary: New cop Mike Meekins is discouraged by his performance in the police department. Luckily, Gumshoe's there to help motivate him to try again.

"Hang that stocking a little higher, Meekins!" the sergeant called. Mike Meekins strained his legs to stretch farther, already up on his tiptoes as it was. But he couldn't let the sergeant down! He extended his legs to the farthest they could go, his arms beginning to ache as he leaned over the side of the ladder to hang the stocking on the wall . . .

The ladder crumpled, taking down all of the lower stockings with it. Meekins faceplanted into the wall and tried to grab a handhold so that he could keep himself from sliding to the floor, but only managed to grab more of the stockings on the wall before he fell.

"Meekins!" the sergeant thundered. Meekins quivered before turning, his eyes wide, saying apologies as fast as he could. The sergeant took one good look, made sure the officer wasn't injured, and then thrust him towards the door. "Go home."

"B-but sir!" he protested.

"Go. Home."

Meekins swung around, reluctantly retreating toward his car. Once again, he'd managed to screw everything up.

It was the annual cop's charity event for children during the holidays. The police-everyone, not just the beat cops and sergeants-helped decorate the convention center before they all dressed up as Santa or an elf and handed out presents to children who were less fortunate. He wanted to help out too, and see the joy written on all of the faces of the children as they received their gifts. It wasn't his fault he was so clumsy. Then again, even if the sergeant hadn't told him to go home, he couldn't imagine where he would have went next. All of the other stations had told him to leave too once he had screwed up one time or another. Even as a new police officer, he had been hefted around from division to division. Now he was a beat cop, which was as low on the totem pole as one could get. And he'd only been working for the police for a few months!

He was unlocking his car when he saw another officer sitting on the sidewalk. Normally he wouldn't have known who it was, seeing as the cop was in plain clothes, but this one was special. Distinctive. After all, it was the guy Mike Meekins aspired to be: Dick Gumshoe. He'd been promoted to Detective when Meekins had gotten out of the police academy. "Detective!" he shouted, waving eagerly.

Gumshoe looked up, smiling and waving back. "Hey, pal!"

"What are you doing out here, Detective Gumshoe?" Meekins walked towards his idol, sitting down on the pavement next to him.

"Ah, they don't want my help inside. They've got it covered, or so they keep telling me."

"You too?" Although Meekins seriously doubted they were in the same boat. After all, the detective couldn't have been a bumbling idiot like him!

Gumshoe chuckled. "Yeah. They're running a tight ship in there. Don't need my help." He looked over at Meekins. "Hey, pal, what's your name?"

"M-My name? Mike Meekins, sir!" He shouted this into the megaphone he had purchased the other day after one of the sergeants had told him he didn't speak loud enough while on the job.

Gumshoe leaned back, feeling his eardrums throb at the loud noise. "Ah, Meekins, huh. What're you doing now on the force?"

"Walking beat, sir."

The detective laughed again. "I remember doing that. Walked beat for four years before getting promoted to anything else."

"R-Really? You too?"

Gumshoe nodded. "Yeah. You get demoted to beat?"

"Yeah." Meekins wilted.

Gumshoe clapped him on the back. "Well, just stick with it, pal! In no time, you'll be rising through the ranks! Maybe someday you'll become Chief of Police!"

Meekins' eyes shone. "Do you really mean that, sir?"

"Of course! Now, whaddya say we go back in there and help out those kids some more?"

"But I've already failed at all of the jobs, sir!"

"Well, then you try, try, try again! Understand?"

Meekins nodded. "Yessir!" he yelled into the bullhorn. He readjusted his police cap on his head and vowed, in that moment, to give the children the best Christmas they'd ever had.

* * *

**A/N: A quick one before the power goes out again. It's snowing, which means it won't stay on again for long. I'm going to bundle up in bed, and wish you all a safe night!**

**I love Meekins. I can't write him, as you guys just saw, but he's fun. And I've always wondered what happened to make him idolize Gumshoe. But that's a oneshot for another time.**

**Reviews (Wow, you're fast!):**

**Shizuka Ayasato: I still believe in Santa. Until he stops giving me presents, that is. I almost cracked the St. Nick joke, but somehow restrained it. I'll agree with you on the Maggey one; originally it was "Oh no," and then I was over word count, so I changed it to something that was one word, and ended up cutting something else and not changing it back. Nick/Maya are totally my OTP. She'd better come back in GS5, is all I've got to say. D:**

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	19. Cookies

**Prompt #18 :: Cookies**

Prompt: Cookies/Milk  
Words: 776  
Summary: Mask*DeMasque rises again?

Ron DeLite watched his wife bustle around the kitchen, wearing her signature red leather suit (and those stilettos!) and a pair of bright blue oven mitts. She'd purchased them the day before, showing him how they were shaped like the blue badger. At the moment, she just looked . . . blissful. She looked like she could be the happiest wife in the world, and he was proud that he could make her that happy.

There was only one problem.

He was no longer Mask*DeMasque. That hadn't bothered Dessie any. She'd cut back on her spending like she said she would, and he had grabbed another job as quickly as possible to allow her to spend as much as she wanted. No, it was bothering Ron instead.

There had been something almost entrancing about being Mask*DeMasque. It had been liberating, after working on the side of justice for so long as a security guard to get under the radar and do something bad. He'd sold information before becoming DeMasque, but that was hardly what he wanted. He wanted the thrill, the danger, just like Dessie talked about when she took her motorbike out. Being the Phantom Thief had awakened all of that in him, and now that he was no longer doing it, there seemed to be something missing in him.

"Ronnie, will you watch the cookies for me for a second?" Desiree's voice cut through the silence, and Ron's head snapped up, a smile on his face. God, he loved this woman.

"Of course," he said, getting up from the table.

"Now, don't let them get too brown; I shouldn't be gone that long, but if they do get too brown, make sure to take them out, okay?" She kissed his cheek before stepping around him, leaving him the Blue Badger oven mitts.

The waiting was boring, watching the cookies cook. His eyes fell upon the oven mitts. The Blue Badger, mascot of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Ron looked at the mitt. The Blue Badger wouldn't arrest him. Not now that he was a civilian. But if he were to become Mask*DeMasque again . . .

Desiree reentered the kitchen, taking back the mitts wordlessly so that she could take the cookies out of the oven. "I'm going to take a ride. I'll be back soon. And don't eat any of the cookies; they're for the Christmas party tonight, remember?" She smiled brightly.

"Y-Yes! Okay!" he said, saluting her. She giggled and kissed him goodbye.

"Have fun," she said as she walked out the door.

Have fun. What did he do to have fun nowadays? Now that he had stopped dressing up as Mask*DeMasque? He supposed he could take a nap, but that wasn't very villainous of him. What would the Phantom Thief do?

The Phantom Thief would plan a heist. And that's what Ron DeLite did. He planned his heist.

* * *

Half of an hour later, he had done it. The object of desire? One of Dessie's cookies, of course. He would have to start small in order to build up his reputation again.

The planning had been hard work. Time to execute it.

He slipped one of the cool cookies from the rack, placing his new calling card in its place. The insignia on it? A cookie with a bite out of it. Once he was famous again, it would remind everyone of his past deeds. Then he stuck the cookie out, being meticulously careful with the crumbs, and—

"Ronnie, darling! I'm home!"

Ron almost dropped it. This was going too much like the jewelry heist he had screwed up as Mask*DeMasque! He had to do something, and quick!

He turned, intercepting her in the front room. "Dessie," he started, holding out the napkin with the cookie on it. "I looked at all the cookies and THIS ONE WAS PERFECT SO I THOUGHT YOU SHOULD HAVE IT because I think you're special," he said, the end of his sentence drifting off so that the last word was hardly audible. She looked surprised, but then smiled again, much brighter than the last time.

"Aw, you're so sweet!" she said, taking it from him and rewarding him with another kiss. "Let me go pick you out one!"

They walked into the kitchen together, Ron making sure he went in first so that he could slip the calling card into his pocket unnoticed. Mask*DeMasque would rise again, but Ron decided he needed to pick a different battle. Preferably one not against his wife.

* * *

**A/N: Unless anyone has any objections, I'm going to focus a little more on some minor characters for the next few prompts (of course, if I get requests, I'll change that immediately). This one, obviously, has Mask*DeMasque and Dessie in it. Again, I adore these two. They're so cute. The Stolen Turnabout was one of my favorite cases due to the characters involved, and these two (although Luke Atmey is in the top three) are my two favorites from the case.**

**Storm seems to have passed, although it's been snowing all day still. It's the first time I've actually seen snow during the day (most of the time, it snows at night and then all melts during the day), but I had to walk to work in it, so I'm not exactly feeling up to par.**

**Reviews!**

**sakana-chan63 :: I managed to get another chapter up! I was worried the snow might take down the power lines, as they're old in this part of town, but they stayed up, as far as I can tell! Glad that you liked the minor characters. I like the major characters, but some of the minor ones need some good ol' love too.**

**Shizuka Ayasato :: I know, right? Work, Meekins, work! And that look every time he twiddles his thumbs! D:**

**Read and Review?**


	20. Santa

**Prompt #19 :: Santa**

Prompt: Santa  
Words: 982  
Summary: Ema doesn't believe in Santa Claus. That doesn't mean Klavier can't try to convince her that he exists. Klema; written for sakana-chan63.

"What are you doing, fop?"

Ema Skye placed her hands on her hips as she watched the Prosecutor crawl around on the floor of his office, putting candles on the lowest boughs of the Christmas tree. He looked up only briefly before resuming his decorating. "Ah, Fraulein! Come help me decorate the tree!"

"And _why_ are we decorating the tree? I doubt you'll be in your office on Christmas."

Klavier looked offended at the thought. "Why, of course I will! I come in every day that I am in town!"

"You come to work on Christmas?"

"It is just like any other day. Besides, if I work a little every day, I do not have to work as hard every day." He clipped another candle to the tree. "Not to mention that a tree this size will not fit in my apartment."

Ema appraised the tree. It was a beautiful spruce, somewhere around eight feet tall, with red wax candles clipped to every square inch. The top of the tree was bare, but she could see an ostentatious gold star sitting on his desk. "It is pretty tall."

"My apartment has low ceilings, but I did not think of it when I picked it out. So, I decided it would make a nice addition to my office."

"Why don't you just get an artificial one?" she asked. "It's easier than picking out a tree every year and hauling it up to the twenty-third floor of your office when it doesn't fit in your apartment."

He actually stopped what he was doing to look at her incredulously. "An artificial tree? Fraulein Skye, that's . . . _gotteslästerung_! How are you supposed to light the candles?"

"Most people use ornaments instead of candles. They don't require fire. But that doesn't even matter; why do you need a tree anyways?"

"For Santa Klaus, of course."

"Fop! Santa doesn't exist!"

Klavier shook his head. "He does too! I've seen him."

"What? You can't see people who don't exist!"

"He does exist, and that's how I saw him."

"It was probably your dad or your brother or something."

Ema stomped farther into the room. "Gavin, it's impossible for a man to deliver presents to all of the homes in the world in 24 hours. According to my calculations," she paused as she did some mental math, "it would take someone roughly 43 days to do what Santa Claus claims to do in one night!"

"No, Fraulein! You have to believe!"

"Where's your proof he exists?" she shot at him, irritated.

He paused. "What are you doing Christmas Eve?"

"Sitting at home, hoping Lana comes back from Europe, even though she won't. Why?"

His mouth slid into a slow grin. "Because I'm going to prove to you that Santa Klaus exists."

* * *

"This is dumb," Ema complained, trying to wiggle into a more comfortable position. "Why are we crouching under your desk like thieves on Christmas Eve?"

"So we can see Santa," Klavier said, disposing of the cardboard tray their coffees had been in and handing one of the paper cups to the detective. "And everyone knows that you have to hide in order to see Santa Klaus."

"We can't see a guy that doesn't exist!"

"Just wait and watch."

Hours spiraled by. Their coffees were empty within the first hour. Ema took out her Snackoos well into hour three. They told each other bad jokes (ones which abruptly stopped when she realized that he was someone who laughed at his own jokes, something that she deplored), talked about Christmas traditions. Klavier told her about his first guitar, which he had promptly broken two days later after trying to emulate a rock star on TV. Ema recounted the time that she tried to get her sister and Mr. Edgeworth under the mistletoe together at a Prosecutors' Christmas Party. Of course, that hadn't ended well for any of the participants, Ema included.

"Why do you never visit your sister during the holidays?" he asked after the fifth hour had passed.

She was nodding off against the side of the desk, but his voice drove her awake again. "It's far," she explained, stifling a yawn. "And it's expensive. And she's got friends of her own in Europe. I'd just be a burden."

"I would think she would be happy to see you, Fraulein," he said gently.

"Why do you never go home during Christmas?"

He looked around. "This _is_ home."

"I mean, to Germany."

He stared at the tree instead of looking at her, and for a moment, she was afraid he wasn't going to answer. "I tried, the first year after Kristoph was guilty of killing Shadi Enigmar. But it didn't feel right. Instead of being home, it felt like I was in a cardboard cutout of home: there on the surface, but missing what was inside." He sighed. "Home is where the heart is, and my heart has decided that Germany no longer feels like home."

"I'm sorry," she said.

One corner of his mouth quirked up into a smile. "There is no need to be sorry. For three years, Los Angeles has been my home. There is nothing wrong with that."

She nodded. "Tell me about Germany," she said. "What's it like compared to here? Or London?"

He talked about his former home, Munich, about the sights and smells and tastes. He talked of how the air was fresh in the countryside, and the place that he and Kristoph had claimed as their castle when they were children at the playground. She tried her hardest to stay awake, but his voice was soporific. She was gently lulled into slumber.

Klavier chuckled. Guess she wouldn't see Santa Klaus after all.

* * *

**A/N: Soooooo, I'm guessing everyone looked at today's prompt and went, "Well, something went wrong. Didn't we just have Santa?" Yes. I apparently wasn't paying attention to the prompts and didn't realize that Santa was a COMPLETELY separate prompt. Oh well, Santa's fun to write about.**

**I ran out of words; I had a whole other scene planned out after the last one where Ema wakes up and Klavier is under the tree going, "Santa said you wished for a boyfriend!" and then her kicking the snot out of him, but again, not enough words. And probably a little cheesy too. If anyone wants to write a companion piece and finish this one off, please, be my guest (and PM it to me; I wanna read it too!). I'm not exactly satisfied where it ended either.**

**If anyone was unclear, this takes place about three years after the end of Apollo Justice. I like writing younger Klavier better (he's just so much fun when he's a new rockstar), but it was a nice challenge to write him older too. If anyone's wondering why the lack of German, two reasons: one, I got lazy and I don't know any German, and two, he's now spent almost ten years in the USA. He's going to start dropping some of the vocabulary sooner or later.**

**_gotteslästerung = _blasphemy. Or something like it. To tell the truth, it's Google Translate's word, and it was the most interesting looking of the three. If anyone has any suggestions, please, give them here.**

**Someone asked why I've had candles on every tree so far. It's a European custom. On Christmas, you light all of the candles (that's why Klavier reacts so negatively when Ema asks him about the artificial tree). You have to keep your tree watered very well in order to not catch your house on fire. It's really cool looking. Like, REALLY cool. It's also how I decorate my tree at home, so . . . **

**I'll try to get another one up today. I've just moved back into my parents' place for the holiday, so it's been a little scattered. Congratulations, everyone, for living through the end of the world!**

**Comments will be answered in the next one!**

**Read and Review?**


	21. Sled

**Prompt #20 :: Sled**

Prompt: Sled  
Words: 811  
Summary: Will Powers needs some money for the holidays. Hence, the babysitting job.

"Now, he's a good kid, just a little doubtful of strangers. He'll probably ignore you for most of the time. Just put on the Steel Samurai and he'll be glued to the TV."

Will Powers nodded numbly, listening to the woman talk. He was between jobs, having just wrapped up the Pink Princess and auditioning for the Jammin' Ninja spinoff, and he needed a little bit of pocket money for the holidays. After all, the whole cast of the Pink Princess needed Christmas gifts, and it was going to be difficult, being unemployed this year. Hence, the babysitting gig.

"Anything else I can do before we leave?" the woman leaned forward on her high heels, almost physically in his personal space. He backed up and stumbled over the table behind him, barely catching it before it toppled.

"Uh, no, nothing else," he stammered.

She nodded, walking into the front room. "Now, Cody, if you need anything, just talk to Mr. Will here, and he'll help you out." She kissed her son's head, gave Powers a last wave, and exited with her husband.

Cody hadn't moved from the couch. He vaguely remembered the kid from his trial, testifying against him originally. "Hey Cody," he said tentatively.

Cody didn't even look up from the TV. He was watching the Steel Samurai; episode 25 if Powers remembered correctly.

"Samurai slap!" he shouted as the move was executed on TV. He had jumped up on the couch, eyes shining bright.

Powers sank onto the adjacent chair. He hadn't expected to be much help anyways; Cody Hackins was almost eleven now. He wouldn't be very open towards babysitters, he supposed.

They watched episode 25 and when it ended, episode 26 started. It was the Christmas episode. "At least it's in the spirit," Powers tried again. Cody ignored him again.

They watched as the Steel Samurai took on the Evil Magistrate, their battle pausing when the villain shot off towards an inn with a snowmobile. It left the Steel Samurai stranded. Powers sat on the edge of his seat. It was one of his favorite episodes, as it was one of the only ones that had been shot onsite. Of course, both he and Hammer had caught horrible colds by the end of the week, but it had been fun. One of his fondest memories of the staff even.

"Come on, Steel Samurai!" Cody called, his hands balled into fists. Onscreen, the Steel Samurai grabbed a sled and sailed through the cloud of fluffy snow. The deed looked effortless, despite having taken several takes. After a minute of sledding, the Steel Samurai caught up with the Evil Magistrate, and the final battle began. Twenty minutes later, the credits were rolling, and Cody Hackins had visibly wilted.

"No more episodes?" Powers asked.

Cody shook his head, a pout on his young features. "My mom says I watch too much. She's hidden the other episodes until Christmas." He kicked his feet up on the couch, sprawling across it. "You know what's so cool about the Steel Samurai?" he asked a minute later, when Powers was still struggling to figure out what to say. "He's always got the coolest stuff. I wish I could be like him."

"Well, he doesn't always use special things like the Samurai Spear and such. I mean, look at the last episode. All the Steel Samurai had with him was a sled."

"I don't have a sled either."

It wasn't exactly a common item, here in Los Angeles, he acknowledged. When there was no snow, what was the use of a sled?

But the use wasn't important here. "I'm sure you could find something else to be like him."

Cody shook his head. "No, I'm just normal. Just like you." He rose, walking into the kitchen, and Powers watched him for a half of a minute before following him.

* * *

Fourteen more babysitting trips and a gig as the Singin' Samurai later, and Powers hauled the present to the front door. It was heavy, and he was sure that Cody's parents wouldn't quite understand the gift, but he hoped that it would give a child back some of his hope.

He placed the wrapped present on the doorstop, thanking the heavens that he had decided to get it wrapped at the mall rather than wrap it himself, and placed the card on top of it. When Cody opened the door on Christmas Eve, he was greeted with a card that said,

_To Cody,_

_Something to help start your superhero career._

_x Steel Samurai_

"A sled?" Cody's mother asked when he had unwrapped it. "But it doesn't snow here."

Cody nodded. "I know. But it's not for snow." He smiled.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for keeping you guys waiting so long on this one. I didn't realize this one would be so had to write. All of the snow-themed ones are killing me! There are only so many times I can write in freak snowstorms in Southern California!**

**I am going to try REALLY hard this time to get another chapter up tonight, but here are the comments from the earlier chapters!**

**Reviews:**

**Blaze: I hope we see Ron and Dessie in something else (GS5, perhaps?), because I agree, they were some of my favorites. I adore Klavier. I adore writing him, and I do like Klema as well (despite the fact that we never see any textual evidence in Apollo Justice; it's got so much potential!). I don't write it a lot though. I'd thought about doing a Klema fic before I started the Seven Year War series (I've even got part of it on my computer, if I'm not mistaken), but it didn't really ring true, so I never finished it. I'm glad you liked these last few chapters, and I hope you get better soon!  
**

**Sakana-chan63: You are very welcome for the chapter! I actually enjoyed writing it (I might write more for it after the challenge is over; I'm still not satisfied where it ended). Anything else you'd like to see? I knowwwww, Klavier! I can't help but write him childlike. He's just too cute.**

**Shizuka Ayasato: Oh! You two are sisters? I had no idea! Haha, do you think that would have been too much? I really debated (luckily, word count decided for me). A friend of mine wants to make a comic for it; I might see how that turns out.**

**Read and Review?**


	22. Snowman

**Prompt #21 :: Snowman**

Prompt: Snowman  
Words: 845  
Summary: Spiritual Training? Making snowmen sounds like much more fun. Mild NaruMayo. Written for Shizuka Ayasato.

"Maya, I'm pretty sure this isn't what they meant when they said we were going to do some spiritual training," Phoenix said, trudging down the Hazakura mountain side.

Maya ran ahead of him, leaning down to pack some snow in her hands. "Aw, come on, Nick! We're braving the elements, aren't we?"

"Is that all it takes?" He pulled his jacket closer to him, recoiling when something cold and wet hit his face and white clouded his vision. "What the—? Maya!" He brushed the snow from his face with one mitten-clad hand. "What was that for?"

She replied with another snowball to his face.

He tackled her, and they went sprawling in the snow. She managed to stuff a fistful of snow down the back of his jacket, and he heaped it on her face, laughing when she spluttered. "Fine, fine! I'll surrender! Geez, Nick, I never realized you had a sense of fun." She spit out some snow as she sat up, combing through her hair for any stray pieces of ice. "How about, instead of smothering me, we make snowmen? I say we start with Edgeworth!"

"How are we going to make it Edgeworth?" Phoenix asked, standing regardless. Once Maya had an idea, it was unlikely she would give it up.

She grinned. "Obviously his ruffles! And a frown. Seriously, does he _ever_ smile?"

"It's rare," he said. He was leaned down, making a snowball to roll around for the base of the snowman. "How big are we doing this?"

"Life-sized, of course!"

It took a while, and a lot of snow (not that they would ever run out of snow here in Hazakura), but they finally hefted the higher two balls onto the base. Maya had scavenged for sticks earlier, and now she placed them in the middle, one arm seemingly poised on the snowman's hip, the other pointed out. "Whaddya think?"

"I think he's still missing the finishing touches," Phoenix pointed out. Maya scooped some snow up, positioning it around the snowman's neck. When she pulled away, it looked reminiscent of the stern Prosecutor's ruffles. Phoenix picked up some rocks to make a face, and Edgeworth the Objecting Snowman was done.

They looked at each other, giggled, made the other promise to never tell Edgeworth no matter how long they lived, and quickly set to making others. Pearl was easy enough, with her loops for hair, and Franziska had a whip made out of a dead vine, and Godot had the coffee cup made of a weirdly shaped rock (and it sat on the ground next to him rather than in his hand because it was too heavy for the arms to support). Mia had a snow magatama. Gumshoe had a twig-pencil stuck behind his ear. The Steel Samurai had a snow hakama. Finally, they lay on the ground, side by side, exhausted.

Maya suddenly bolted up. "I know who's missing!" She scrambled around, making a set of large snowballs to set on top of each other (and Phoenix faithfully set them upright) before bouncing up on her tiptoes and giving the snowman hair. Spiky hair. A few minutes later, Nick the Grumpy Snowman was complete. "Maya!" Phoenix protested. "I am _not_ always grumpy."

"Just most of the time," she teased.

He retaliated by making Maya the Gluttonous Snowman. In her mouth was a bad imitation of a burger. "What's that?" she asked, pointing at it.

"It's a burger!"

"Nick, that is a horrible burger. Here, let me fix it." A minute later, she had pulled away, and a semi-recognizable burger was now in the snowman's mouth.

Phoenix pushed them side by side. "Now it's complete."

They looked at their creations, smiles on their faces. "All of our friends, here for Christmas," Maya said.

"Just don't give Edgeworth hot tea. I think it might melt his cool exterior." He winked her, and she sighed at the bad joke, rolling her eyes.

"Nick? Can we stay here?"

"I think we might get frostbite if we stay out here for too long."

She shook her head. "I mean, just for a little while longer? If we have to spend all of Christmas Eve later training . . . then I want to spend a little of it with our friends, real or snowmen."

He slung an arm around her shoulder, sitting down on the cold ground. "Then we'll spend as long as you want here." He paused. "Just talk to me though, not to them, okay? If you start talking to them, I might have to question your sanity."

She giggled and sat next to him, her arm wrapping around her waist. "No one else I'd rather to talk to." She turned her face, pressing a kiss to his cold cheek. "Thanks, Nick."

Surprised, but pleasantly, he buried his face into her hair. They watched the sun start to lower over the mountainside, finally disappearing behind the Phoenix and Maya snowmen.

* * *

**A/N: A little more Phoenix/Maya, this one more obvious than the last. I enjoy writing these two. They're just so much fun.**

**For those of you waiting for 25 chapters, I am going to be skipping one (Prompt #24 is Chestnuts, something that I've never had, nor have ever seen; I'm sparing you guys from having to read a horrible chapter), so there will be only 24 fics in this set. Three more are left, so the last minute requests have to be in now! **

**Reviews!**

**Shizuka Ayasato: Haha, to tell the truth, I was already writing this one for you when I saw your comment (after all, you can't give a gift to one sibling without giving one to the other!), so happy holidays and I hope you enjoy your present. c: Ah, perhaps the last chapter wasn't as clear as I had assumed. It's a sled. I was reaching; maybe I'll add in a final line to make that clear. I love Will Powers, but he's kind of hard to write because he's so timid.**

**Read and Review?**


	23. Jingle Bells

**Prompt #22 :: Jingle Bells**

Prompt: Jingle Bells  
Words: 904  
Summary: Dancing for charity was never so stressful.

"This is what we're using? Bells?" Nathan asked skeptically, taking the long strips of fabric from the box and wincing when all the bells attached jingled. "No offense, but I think it's going to be a mess."

Kim looked over at the twenty-year-old Freshman with something akin to annoyance. "It's going to work, Nate. Come on, what's the saying? Faith, trust, and a little bit of pixie dust?"

"I don't see any pixies around," he pointed out.

"Oh, new props!" Silvia dragged Kiria over, holding onto the exchange student's wrist tightly. She had taken it upon herself to keep the Japanese girl company, seeing as she was still a little hesitant about interacting with others. Her accent, while somewhat thick, was more than understandable. It was ridiculous that the girl should feel so ostracized about it. "Bells?" Silvia asked, flicking at one of them.

"What are we going to do with them?" Kiria asked.

Kim smiled. "We're going to dance with them."

"Won't that be a lot of unorganized sound?" Silvia pointed out. "Even if we all move together, they're still going to ring differently."

Kim shook her head and Nathan rolled his eyes. "Faith, trust, and pixie dust," he recited, knowing it was coming soon from the Senior's mouth.

"Pixie dust?" Kiria asked.

"It's a Peter Pan quote," Silvia explained. "When the children start flying, Peter Pan explains to them that all that flight requires is faith, trust, and pixie dust."

Kiria nodded, but her gaze swept from person to person, still a little confused.

Silvia suddenly gasped. "Wait! Are we doing Peter Pan for the Winter Dance?"

Kim nodded. "I got the Director to sign off on it. Which also means we get to do a little bit of flying ourselves." She winked, and all of the underclassmen exchanged nervous glances.

* * *

"Up, down, up! That's right, Nomura! Price, backpedal! You're too far forward." The two sighed emphatically, Kiria pushing a hand through her hair and Nathan trying to readjust the straps on his harness.

"This sucks. Why are we up here again?" Nathan complained. Kiria made a noise of agreement.

"You're the youngest; you're more flexible than us old people," Kim said, grinning widely. "Now, once more."

The two groaned, beginning to fly through the air once again.

* * *

"Is everyone ready?" Silvia asked, looking cheerful in her elf costume. She grinned widely, kneeling down on the stage to usher one of the many children in the auditorium to her awaiting hand. "What's your name?"

The girl looked up shyly through her lashes. "Anastasia."

"And do you believe, Anastasia? Do you believe you can fly?" Silvia's voice dropped to a stage whisper. "Do you believe?"

The girl nodded.

The red curtains swept outwards, revealing the cast of twenty-five dancers. "All you need is a faith, trust, and a little bit of pixie dust," a Peter Pan-dressed Nathan said, coming forward to take Anastasia's hand. "Faith, trust, and pixie dust," he repeated, Kiria coming forward to sprinkle some glitter over him. And then they stepped back together and soared.

The movement jostled the bells hiding the harness, gentle chiming accentuating each of their movements as they danced in synch. Anastasia's eyes widened, and the dancers started, Silvia leading the movements. The music cued up, and they all danced in rhythm, chanting "faith, trust, and pixie dust".

And the dance wrapped up with more sleigh bells, Kim dressed up as Santa to throw candy to the children in the audience. "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!" she called out, lowering her voice deliberately to sound more masculine. There was a final round of applause, and they all disappeared from the stage as the curtain dropped.

* * *

"Did you see their faces?" Silvia asked, a giant smile on her face. "They were awed!"

"Best part of the year, every year. The whole charity thing is one of the best things we do here at USC," one of the other dancers said.

Kiria and Nathan, finally freed from their harnesses, ran over to the group. "Did they like it?" Nathan asked, eyes wide.

"They loved it."

The two grinned, hugging one another in enthusiasm. "Knew it was all worth it!"

The sound of sleigh bells made them all turn as Santa Claus crossed backstage. "Merry Christmas! Now take your presents and be happy." Kim threw each of them a package, pulling from the fake sleigh she had taken onstage. "And get out of my sights until next year! Nomura, Price, catch!" The two blinked in surprise as they received a package that jingled. Kiria held it up to her ear, shaking it as if she didn't believe that it could be making the sound, while Nathan ripped his open.

"Jingle bells?" he asked, looking up at Kim, who was departing off the stage.

She turned and winked. "Just remember: faith, trust, and a little bit of pixie dust."

* * *

**A/N: Wow! Anyone else forget how hectic the holiday season gets? I'll finish this series up by the New Year. Sorry for this one being all over the place: usually I try to write once a day, but it hasn't happened lately, and this one took the short end of the stick.**

**Two more left! I hope everyone had a happy holiday, and let's look forward to the new year!**

**Reviews:**

**Shizuka Ayasato :: Aw, I'm so glad you liked it! c: A late Merry Christmas to you too!**

**Sakana-chan63 :: Haha, Klavier is quite childish, although his perfectionism is a strange counterbalance to it (remember in case 4:2 where he gets all irritated when one of the Gavinners screws up the song?). Overall, he's just too much fun to write. c:**

**Read and Review?**


	24. Carols

**Prompt #23 :: Carols**

Prompt: Carols  
Words: 846  
Summary: There is a very good reason why Prosecutors are not musicians.

"You _will_ participate in the yearly caroling," the Chief Prosecutor argued, rising from the chair across from Edgeworth's desk. "If you want to keep your position, you'll do it."

"I'm not exactly into singing," Edgeworth said, shifting papers around nervously on his desk.

His boss rolled his eyes. "Suck it up, Edgeworth. The Defense Attorneys are dressing up like elves and handing out candy canes to children, so I'd consider this to be the better end of the stick. Of course, if you'd rather, you can always participate with them."

Edgeworth shuddered. "No, no. I'll be there."

"I thought so." The Chief chuckled. "The Rousseau case will be on your desk soon; they've just arrested their suspect." He adjusted his suit jacket, checking his watch. "I look forward to seeing you on Christmas Eve, Miles."

Edgeworth waited for his boss to leave before placing his head on the stack of papers and sighing.

* * *

"He managed to guilt you into it too?" Nathan asked, climbing over the risers to take the place next to Edgeworth. A piece of holly had been pinned to his collar, but he looked like Scrooge with the amount of Christmas spirit he was exuding.

"I would have expected you would enjoy these kinds of things, Price." He eyed the Santa hat Catherine Eldredge held out to him before taking it and placing it on Nathan's head.

"Pretty sure she wanted _you_ to wear it."

Edgeworth chuckled. "Pretty sure I didn't want to be here. We can't all get what we want."

"Aren't you just a ray of sunshine today? How'd the Rousseau case go? That ended today, right?"

"Guilty verdict, as it should have been." He couldn't help but stare as Franziska approached the stands. The frown on her face was evident, but her hands were empty. "Seems like Franziska has been temporarily de-whipped."

Nathan laughed. "Guess the Chief decided that could end badly. Twenty bucks says she whips him into unconsciousness at the next available moment."

"I'm not in the mood to lose twenty bucks at the moment." He chuckled as Franziska stomped her way up to Nathan's other side, arms crossed over her chest stiffly. "Good evening, Franziska."

"Miles Edgeworth. Nathaniel Price," she said in way of greeting, jaw clenched.

"How are you supposed to sing if you're so tense?" Nathan asked, even jostling her gently with his elbow. "You've got to be relaxed, and then your larynx just opens up so you sing like a bird."

She glared at him. Edgeworth snorted, hiding the sound under a cough. Twenty bucks said that Price would receive the same treatment if he didn't stop poking the bear. "How would you know how to sing?" she demanded.

"I was a dancer once upon a time," Nathan defended.

"Might I remind you that dancing is not the same as singing at all?" Edgeworth said.

Nathan shrugged. "It worked for dancing. Has to work for singing, right?" He took this opportunity to tap Catherine's shoulder. "I'm sure you've caroled many times before. Any tips for us amateurs?" He had his most personable grin on, the one that if Edgeworth squinted a little, seemed a little like Redd White's, but it seemed much less predatory on Nathan's face.

She flushed. "Um, I'm not really an expert on this kind of thing, but I know that if you have fun, it usually sounds like it."

"Fun. Right." Edgeworth had to cough again to hide a laugh at the look on Franziska's face. Franziska had been a musical nightmare as a child. Whereas he had picked up the flute and her father was an excellent violin player, Franziska had possessed no talent for instruments, let alone vocal arrangements. Suffering through an hour of singing was certainly not her idea of _fun_.

"Songbooks, everyone!" The Chief announced, handing out the leather bound tomes with lyrics printed inside. "Now, I want you all to belt it out. The Defense Attorneys have organized a musical, so we're all going to make ourselves look like fools this year."

"If I could sing, I would have become a musician, not a prosecutor!" one of the older prosecutors heckled. That earned a hearty bit of applause from the fellow carolers.

"Doesn't matter! If we all sing loud enough, maybe they'll cover their ears." The Chief Prosecutor winked, opening his songbook to the first page and beginning to count off. There was a moment of hesitation as the second downbeat hit, and then they all opened their mouths, stared at the lyrics, and hoped for the best as they sang.

_"Here we come a-wassailing  
__Among the leaves so green;  
__Here we come a-wand'ring  
__So fair to be seen._

_Love and joy come to you,_  
_And to you your wassail too;_  
_And God bless you and send you a Happy New Year_  
_And God send you a Happy New Year."_

* * *

**A/N: Second to last! Our finale is coming up next and shall either be up tomorrow or on New Years itself. Seeing as I tend to get a little emotional at the end of a fic, I'm going to give a million thanks to everyone who has been reading up until now, and I hope everyone has a New Year (for those who are already on New Years' Eve, this is meant for you; I'm living in one of the last time zones to welcome in the new year)! **

**I tried to get a well-known carol that wasn't religious, but wasn't too hard, and eventually landed on Here We Come A-Wassailing. Don't ask me what a wassail is; I don't know either. That's what Wikipedia is for?**

**A lot of people know that I have a love of the Prosecutors. It's ridiculous, but they're so cute! This is set early on; I couldn't figure out a good place to have Klavier come in, otherwise he would have. D:**

**Reviews!**

**Shizuka Ayasato :: Haha, I thought Kiria would be Tinkerbell, or a fairy of some sort. I seem to have too much fun putting Nate in positions where he would squirm. **

**Blaze :: It's definitely a different feel, but they're at a different point in their lives in Second Chances. Haha, Silvia should eventually come into the Seven Year War series, if I can figure out a good way to integrate her in. I've been introducing a lot of new characters all of a sudden; I don't want anyone to be overwhelmed. But I'm glad you still remember her!**

**Sakana-chan63 :: That he did. It's a nice character flaw. c: **

**FeytedintheTARDIS :: Of course, darling! No need to comment on every single one of these. Can't wait for your large review at the end, and I'm so glad you're enjoying them!**

**Read and Review?**


	25. Christmas Movies

**Prompt #24 :: Christmas Movies**

Prompt: Christmas Songs/Movies  
Words: 978  
Summary: Everyone's got their own opinions when it comes to the best Christmas movie.

"How about a movie to end out the night?"

Maya looked up at her boyfriend, grinning widely. "The Steel Samurai Christmas Special!" she said excitedly.

"I was thinking something a bit more classic. For Franziska and the others, you know."

The previously mentioned others were methodically trying to figure out how many people they could fit on the small couch in the Wright Talent Agency. "Maya can sit on Wright's lap," Franziska reasoned.

"There's no way we're all going to fit on there." Kiria crossed her arms over her chest.

"Obviously."

"I think there are some blankets in the closet!" Pearl said, running over to the closet door.

Nathan took off his jacket. "I'll sit on the floor."

"I'd rather sit on the floor as well," Kiria agreed.

It went unspoken that Pearl and Trucy would also be on the floor, seeing as they had the tendency to crowd the TV as the movie went on.

"What movie were you thinking?" Maya asked, a single hand poised on her hip.

"I remember watching _A Christmas Story_ every year," Phoenix said, turning on the TV.

"That one with the stupid kid who gets a BB Gun? No way, Nick! That's as bad as those sappy Hallmark movies!"

"Well, we can't watch the Steel Samurai. Pick another movie!"

"Okay, who all wants to sit on the couch?" Edgeworth asked the group in charge of figuring out who sat where.

He took Franziska's clutching of her sleeve to indicate that she wasn't sitting on the floor. She was small enough to sit in the middle of anyone who would sit on the other sides of her. But who would take those other coveted spots?

Larry plopped down on one side, making it clear he wasn't about to move. Franziska, in response, sat at the other end, as far away as she could from the amateur artist.

"Hey, you guys saved me a spot on the couch? You didn't have to, really." Phoenix sat in the middle spot before anyone could tell him not to, and Maya scampered to sit against his legs on the floor.

Guess the rest of them were going to be seated on the floor.

"What are we watching?"

"Erm, well, it's Christmas. There's got to be something on TV, right?" There was a moment of uncertainty as he turned on the TV, but the first thing that came on was _It's a Wonderful Life_, so he figured the pickings couldn't have been that bad. "Who wants to pick?"

"Well, Kiria's the newest member of the office. Let her pick! Do you have any favorites?" Maya asked, handing her the remote.

Kiria's eyes widened. "Uh, no. I've seen this one and one with a weird elf that leaves the North Pole."

Nathan sighed. "Oh, this isn't going well."

"Fools! On Christmas night, there is only one thing to watch!" Franziska took the remote and started flipping through the channels before landing on _A Christmas Carol_.

"Ah, the classic tale of Ebenezer Scrooge," Larry said, waving his hand in the direction of the TV. His voice had taken on a narrator-like quality, full of bravado. "The, erm, Scrooge who was taught his own value when he sees what life would be like had he never existed."

"That was the last one, pal," Gumshoe corrected him. "Ebenezer Scrooge, uh, he's the one who dresses up like Santa Claus!"

"No, that was _Miracle on 34th Street_," Maya argued.

"There are a lot of Christmas movies," Kiria murmured, looking back and forth between everyone who was speaking.

"I'm just surprised no one has mentioned _Die Hard_ yet," Edgeworth said. She was leaning against his left arm, and he shifted it around her shoulders, surprised when she nestled farther into his side.

"I've seen that one! Nate made me watch that our first year of college." Her mouth twisted as she thought about it. "Not much of the Christmas spirit, as I remember."

"It's a classic," Nathan argued from his position next to Larry's side of the couch.

"Fool! _Die Hard_ can hardly be interpreted as a Christmas movie!"

Maya shook her head. "It _did_ take place during Christmas."

"I always liked that one with the guy that knocks Santa Claus off the roof," Phoenix said, his eyes still glued to the screen.

"You mean the _Santa Clause_?" Trucy asked, eyes shining. "I love that one!"

Franziska huffed. "There is no movie like _A Christmas Carol_."

They continued to watch the movie, although it was late on Christmas night, and they were all exhausted from the festivities. After a while, Larry felt himself nodding off against Phoenix's shoulder. Within seconds of his eyes closing, he was snoring on his best friend.

It didn't take long for everyone else to succumb to slumber either. They all were leaned against one another, making a heartwarming scene for all to see. After a few hours, Trucy woke up, disoriented after hearing a loud "HO HO HO" in her ear from the TV. It took her a moment to look around and find the remote, which was clenched lightly in Franziska's fist. A small smile was poised on her face as she realized that everyone else was asleep. She took the remote from Franziska, turning off the TV and going over to the desk lamp to shut off the remaining light. Before she did, she looked at the faces of those that she considered family and the soft lighting that made their faces look peaceful in the sleep. She clicked off the lamp, crawling back over to Pearl's side and laying down.

She whispered, "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night."

* * *

**A/N: The conclusion to my first ficlet collection! It was hard finding a piece to wrap this up with, but I finally was happy with this piece. For all of you that aren't American and/or celebrate Christmas, there are a million different Christmas movies out there and most of them (in my humble opinion) are mediocre. And I really don't consider _Die Hard_ a Christmas movie, but a lot of people put it in their movie collections. Maybe I'm just biased. But I'm with Franziska; _A Christmas Carol_ is really the quintessential movie (although _It's a Wonderful Life_ has the best music).**

**I'll be putting out an epilogue when I have the time, so I'll refrain from getting all sentimental on you now, but you guys have been the best audience I could have ever asked for. I'll answer the final comments in the epilogue (which I meant to have up tonight, but since this one took so long for me to approve of, it's not going to be up before tomorrow night). **

**So, a Happy New Year, everyone! **

**Read and Review?**


	26. Epilogue

**Epilogue :: Author's Note**

I know I promised this one a few days ago, but there's two reasons why this one is late. One, I was trying to write a good little oneshot for New Years and it failed horribly. The other (and some of my readers know this well) is that I have a knack for procrastination and have a short story due tomorrow that I hadn't even started when I wrote Prompt #24. So, there are my lame excuses. Sorry, all.

What I do want to say is thank you to all of my readers. It's been a roller coaster ride, writing these little fluffy oneshots, but getting feedback was one of the best reinforcing of the lessons I've learned while writing this. There'll be an analysis of all of the chapters below, but I definitely want to recognize Blaze, FeytedintheTARDIS, Shizuka Ayasato, White-D, YoshiStack, sakana-chan63, FieraRosette, Feyfangirl, and OddWriter12 for all of your reviews, follows, and favorites of this little collection. It got way more attention than I thought it would, now that I write out everyone! Thanks again, and it's been a fun ride. As always, I do want to say that I will collaborate with anyone (but I won't beta; too much to do, sorry!), so if you should ever want to write with me, it's an open invitation!

As always, I look back on the completed story (or stories, in this case) and comment on them all of the things I didn't say before. Feel free to skip over this part, but I know some readers like to hear what the author thinks about it.

Stats: The fic ended with 2,960 views, with as many as 1, 090 views from the USA alone in December. According to the graphs, there were people from 37 different countries, many of which are not primarily Christian nations, so I hope a bit of culture exchange happened here! Up until this epilogue, there have been 26,154 words, which would be roughly the length of most litigation documents or a standard memoir, according to Google.

Chapters:

**Mistletoe ::** An odd first prompt, in my opinion, and the first shipping I used. I knew there were a lot of people who supported Kiria/Edgeworth from The Seven Year War series, so it was a good bit of misdirection that I had decided to use had I ever gotten stuck. Little did I know that I wasn't sure where I was going with the Phoenix/Maya thing, and used my misdirection in the first chapter. D: And while I could have used it again later, it ended up working.

**Hot Chocolate ::** I love Phoenix/Trucy, as I said, and knowing how hard it is to be away from family during the holidays, this was a good place to channel that. Originally, there was a preview with Iris, Maya, and Pearl at Hazakura Temple, with Iris asking where Phoenix was and Maya telling her that he wanted to spend Christmas as just the two of them. Midnight would strike, and the Feys would drink hot chocolate and look up at the night sky, which would be filled with paper lanterns to signify the holiday. It ended up being waaaaaay too many words, and so it was cut down to just Phoenix and Trucy's interaction.

**Snow ::** The first of many horrible prompts with snow. As the series is set in southern California, I knew I had to do something different with these. Hence being set in Germany with young Miles and Franziska. I've never been to Germany, but I'm _pretty_ sure it doesn't snow as much as I made it sound.

**Candy Canes ::** Because Diego/Mia is another one of my favorite pairings, I wanted to do something with them. An early edit had Godot merely reminiscing about Grossberg's Christmas party and flirting with Mia, but in the end, I wanted him to have a visitor. And I wanted a chance to use my awful _Waiting For Godot_ joke.

**Christmas Tree ::** The first of many that I wrote and went "What was I trying to do there?" If you read it through, it's basically Mystic Althea telling Pearl, "Yep, the world sucks, and then you die." Not exactly in the Christmas spirit.

**Angel ::** A prompt that I could have went mainstream and did a pairing with or completely risky and unorthodox. You see I went with the second option. Young Kiria is someone who hasn't been explored yet in the Seven Year War series, and I wanted to do something with her and Nadeshiko. Oddly enough, it evolved into a family fic, which I think went well enough.

**Pie ::** This ended up being one of my favorites, although in the end, I had to work out a few plotholes. Writing a soft Edgeworth was much nicer than I thought it would have been, and it was nice to experiment with the two of them together again. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what I was thinking when I used up my "freak snowstorm" deus ex machina here. I could have waited for a snow prompt, but noooooooooo.

**Tinsel ::** Another one that I like to pretend didn't happen. although now that I read over it again, it's not as bad as I had thought. Writing something about a product you never knew existed up until this point? Bad idea.

**Ice Skating ::** I liked this one too when I wrote it. More Edgeworth/Kiria, which I found was much easier to write (and got good reviews). It's pretty unremarkable, save the part with Nate sliding across the ice on his butt. I still love that part.

**Frost ::** In one of my creative writing classes, we had talked about sentiment and sentimentality, which the only difference is that sentiment is sadness that you can still think through, and sentimentality is so sad that it just takes over the story completely. When I started writing about Li Sheng (who may show up in the series, because I kinda liked him), it quickly became an exercise in just that. Lang was, in general, a hard character to write fluff about. It just doesn't happen. It's like trying to write Franziska-fluff.

**Eggnog ::** This was another prompt that I wish I could have extended. I never liked eggnog, but the smell always brought back old memories of Christmases past, which was the driving force behind this oneshot. Unfortunately, with as many people as were in the scene, not everyone got their chance to talk. It's one that I might think about extending someday. As an aside, Nate's childhood desire to be a greeter stems from my own childhood desire, according to my mother. I had high goals for myself when I was young, apparently.

**Cider ::** I really wanted to include Apollo in these, because he is a large part of the Seven Year War series, but he's from a different time period than when it's set. Where did the pumpkin come in to the equation? To tell the truth, I don't have a clue. I don't know what pumpkin cider tastes like (I'm not a pumpkin fan in general). I also wanted to have some fun with the apathetic Phoenix we see in Apollo Justice, because I don't get to play with him that much, and he seems much more contemplative than younger Phoenix did.

**Peppermint ::** Why we had peppermint as a prompt right after Candy Canes earlier, I wasn't sure, but this wasn't a good day to begin with. I had gotten home from work only to find out about the Connecticut shootings and the Chinese knife attacks, so this one seems a little heavy to me. I kind of let my emotions get in the way of a clear narrative here. Writing an established pairing for Kiria and Edgeworth wasn't as easy as I had thought it would be either, oddly enough.

**Gingerbread :: **I liked this one as well, although trying to figure out who would be good at making gingerbread houses and who wouldn't be wasn't the easiest thing in the world. Mostly unremarkable except for the word count.

**Presents** **::** The famous prompt where I didn't look at the other prompts _before_ writing this one. Again, a mostly unremarkable one in general, although I do like it.

**Fireplace ::** I noticed when I joined the fandom years ago that Maggey and Gumshoe were pretty much ignored as main characters, but I didn't have any way to change that until I wrote this oneshot collection. It was originally going to go a lot worse than it did (like almost-catching-Gumshoe's-house-on-fire worse), but again, there was the word count to think about.

**Stockings ::** This prompt is the one I really remember struggling on. I mean, what do you write about stockings? They're just sort of . . . there. So, cue Mike Meekins. The fact that he looks up to Gumshoe so much is hilarious. It started out with me trying to figure out why he would idolize Gumshoe, and then it just became a given fact again, so I failed on one end and succeeded in writing about stockings.

**Cookies ::** I don't usually write completely crazy things, so this ended up being a bit crack-y for my tastes, but I adored Ron and Dessie so much that I kept it in the collection instead of attempting a new one. I'd love to see Ron DeLite become Mask*DeMasque again (for the Yatagarasu? Haha), but it's probably not going to happen, so I wrote this instead.

**Santa ::** I think this is going to be one that I'll continue later, seeing as no one took me up on my offer to continue it. I adore Klema, but since there's no textual evidence to support it in the games, I generally don't write it.

**Sled ::** More snow prompts! I remember really kicking myself for using up the spontaneous snowstorm on Pie. I wanted to use Will Powers, but I couldn't think of a good thing for him to be doing, so he was babysitting. This ended a little too "Disney" for me, for some reason. Maybe it's because I'm not generally a feel-good person, and this one was definitely something to feel good.

**Snowman ::** The flagstone Phoenix/Maya piece, in my opinion. I wanted to make it a little playful, but not too playful, and this one came out. I kind of want to see all of the snowmen now that I've written them.

**Jingle Bells ::** I was a little skeptical on this one, because I didn't know how people were going to take young Kiria and Nate, but it seemed to go over well. I'm not really sure where Peter Pan came in, but I adore the quote "Faith, trust, and a little bit of pixie dust". Although if someone gave me sleigh bells for Christmas after having me hooked up to a harness with them on, I would probably commit murder.

**Carols**** :: **This ended up being my favorite piece of the set. The dialogue flowed pretty easily, and a bit of grouchiness was needed in a collection that was all happiness.

**Christmas Movies ::** This was the prompt from hell, mostly because, what do you do with it? In the end, I referenced a bunch of movies and decided to be done with it. For some reason, the dialogue was flowing pretty well in this one too, although it definitely could have been confusing.

Finally, we'll end with the replying of everyone's final comments, and a happy holidays to every one of my readers!

Blaze :: It wasn't quite the New Year when I read it, but it was New Year's Eve, so I'll count it as such. I hope you had a lovely New Year as well, thank you!

Sakana-chan63 :: They're not the people you would expect to carol, would you? There had to have been some blackmail in there.

Shizuka Ayasato :: Nate is really the only one who would enjoy most of the things I force him through, awful writer as I am. I'm glad you liked that moment in Chapter 25; I laughed while writing it (is that like laughing at my own jokes? I can't stand people who do that!). Thanks again for sticking around, and I hope to hear from you again sometime too!

FeytedintheTARDIS :: Take your time. I'm not going anywhere, haha.

Feyfangirl :: I'm so glad you liked the last few chapters. I think they turned out better than I had hoped.

Thanks to everyone, and I hope we'll meet again soon!


End file.
